XANADU is a campy homage to 1980, creative inspiration, and the gods of roller disco and/or Olympus — and SO much fun. This is a fantastic opening to the brand new "Studio 60" performance space in the Auditorium building at MSU. It is "up close and personal" with approximately 75 seats in only three rows on either side of a long room with wonderful projection-art effects at either end (Chris Haug media designer) and a ceiling full of well used lighting equipment (Shannon Schweitzer) — and the disco ball, of course.
Though the movie it was based on was an official "disaster," Xanadu becomes hilarious, occasionally insightful, and magical, on stage. Carter Beane adapted and enhanced the script to include a fun Greek mythology subplot where two fellow muses "curse" the heroine to fall in love with a human. It's a cartoon caricature of itself, but offers witty insights into our human/god-like foibles and the doomed yet lofty desire to "make art." The familiar disco-era hits are infectious; you will be ready to get up and dance at the end.
The leads are double cast. We saw the talented, now blonde, Brittany Nicol (familiar from Riverwalk's Spring Awakening and Peppermint Creek's Bonnie and Clyde) so I'm assuming we also saw the first-listed Brett Kline as a frantically earnest Sonny, and Teriah Fleming and Caitlin Dunlap as the cackling, plotting Melpomene and Calliope. (Jenna Jo Pawlicki, Eric Miller, Mary Dilwarth and Christi Thibodeau are the alternate cast.) Danny/Zeus was well played by Dan Inglese, effectively overcoming his youth to charm us as "the older guy who sacrificed his dream." 
Jenise Cook and Jerry Parker are a great warm-up duo, and versatile in many roles. The gang o' muses is a treat, especially Blaine Mizer, dazzling, from ballet dancer to centaur. The make-up, hair and costumes are appropriately wild (costumes Brigitte Bechtel.) The set (Shannon Melick) is simple and clever with the "greek" look and convenient pillars for stowing props and wheeled mini-pillar "scooter" that enhances the choreographic possibilities (choreographer Travis Staton-Marrero) It was all pulled together by the mastermind director Rob Roznowski.
This production is a collaboration with the Lansing Derby Vixens – Lansing’s Female Roller Derby team, who helped with the skating (and perhaps inspired the clever array of roller-derby names attached to each actor? Check your programs.)

I would recommend this for all ages except young children - but warn away any "sound sensitive" folks, because the music/amplification is rock-concert loud and sometimes a bit shrill, occasionally making lyrics hard to discern. The keyboards, guitar and drums were in a separate room down the hall - perhaps sound levels are still being fine-tuned. It runs 90 minutes with no intermission.
Director Pre-Show Discussion November 17, 2013 at 1:15 PM
Post-Show Discussion November 21, 2013 (following the Performance)
Dates/Times
The is an 11:55 show starting about NOW... so you missed that...;-} The rest of the run includes dates/times below. I would recommend reservations because this is a relatively small space, and once word gets out.... General Admission: $20 Seniors and Faculty: $18 Students: $15 Children 12 and Under: $8Ticket office at Studio 60 opens one hour prior to the show with doors opening 30 minutes prior. Sat, Nov 16, 2013 - 2:00 PM - AND - 8:00 PM Sun, Nov 17, 2013 - 2:00 PM
Tue, Nov 19, 2013 - 7:30 PM
Wed, Nov 20, 2013 - 7:30 PM
Thu, Nov 21, 2013 - 7:30 PM
Fri, Nov 22, 2013 - 8:00 PM
Sat, Nov 23, 2013 - 2:00 PM - AND - 8:00 PM Sun, Nov 24, 2013 - 2:00 PM

Studio 60 just down the hall from the Arena stage in the basement of MSU's auditorium building. Pick up tickets at the box office on the Farm Lane side, then head downstairs, down the long hall, past the Arena and you're there. 
Tickets: http://www.whartoncenter.com/events/detail/dot-xanadu

OFF WITH HER HEAD is the Freshman Showcase presentation at MSU's Arena Theatre where we joined a sparse but intrigued audience to experience a creative "devised" script, developed by the newest group of MSU student performers and technicians. They have created a tale of spousal abuse and child abduction and the mother's subsequent committal to an insane asylum, and layered it over the familiar "mad" characters of Alice in Wonderland. Technical "transformations" from the mental institution to "Wonderland" are cleverly handled via creative lighting and imaginary costume/set manipulations. 

Alice in Wonderland is a pretty confusing and convoluted story in the original, and the "madhouse" correlations seem interesting/appropriate, but due to uneven performances, and iffy acoustics, it was sometimes hard to follow. There were 17 actors, each portraying two characters, one in the asylum and the other in Wonderland. I particularly enjoyed Grace Hinkley as the Cheshire Cat and her crazy-person counterpart, who also added wonderful sound effects with her violin. She also wrote the "Dramaturge's Note" which offers more information about Lewis Carroll's connection to his "mad" characters, challenging the way the mentally ill were treated in his time.

The show is only an hour long, but I still would not recommend it for elementary aged children. It may be thought-provoking for older ones. 

Off With Her Head continues at the Arena Theatre in the basement of the MSU Auditorium building on the corner of Farm Lane and Auditorium. (It tends to be warm in there, so dress in layers.)

Remaining shows:
Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 8:00pm
Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 2:00pm   $10 Tickets are available at the door (box office upstairs on the Farm Lane end of the Auditorium Building. The Arena is downstairs.) OR from the Wharton Center Box Office, 1.800.WHARTON, whartoncenter.com

The Graduate at LCC's Dart auditorium was a nostalgic trip back to the era of my own confused youth in the 60's — but speaks to a universal experience of that daunting time when young people unwittingly make choices, and avoid choices, that will affect the rest of their lives. The music, the costumes (Amber Marisa Cook) and the hairdos evoked the era. The set was a made up of attractive but chaotic, wooden painted panels (design Bartley Bauer; scenic painting Kimberly Lennox) that created a backdrop conflicting patterns while smoothly transforming into ten different locations. When a movie is translated to the stage, multiple scene changes can easily kill the pace, but the design of the set and smooth changes by cast and crew kept this script flowing. Adapter/author Terry Johnson did a good job of transforming the book/movie into a workable stage script.
All the actors were fine, and the three leads were each outstanding. Clearie McCarthy (who even looked like the lovely Katharine Ross from the movie) embodied an earnest charm and naiveté as the daughter, Elaine. Deb Keller was amazing as the sultry, jaded, hard-shell-hiding-pain Mrs. Robinson, exercising the only kind of power she could in the society of the early/mid 60's. Scott Laban was excellent as the center and the heart of the show, expressing a "natural awkwardness" (oxymoron?) and bringing the audience with him on a perhaps misguided journey toward his future — which we hope will be happier ever after than Mr. and Mrs. Robinson's. Kudos to director John Lepard for mixing these relationships with a deft hand.
Only one show left, Saturday night at 8 (busy weekend last week, sorry) but this show is well worth navigating the construction on Capitol Avenue to Dart Auditorium. (The parking lot on the corner of Genesee and Capitol is near the break in the barriers where you need to cross; or use the LCC parking ramp off Grand Ave. - free - and approach from the east.)
$5 students, $10 seniors, LCC staff & alumni, $15 adults; at the doorFor more information call 517-483-1488 or visit lcc.edu/showinfo.

Jerry Mattson's previous review was a fine assessment of Williamston's Woman in Black - but we DID see it at last, now in its final weekend, so I can officially concur that it is a ghost story extraordinaire, told via an intricate script by Stephen Mallatratt, adapted from the novel by Susan Hill. The talented Aral Gribble and John Siebert deftly switch realities and characters recreating a truly haunting experience. The lighting (Dan Walker) and sound (Julia Garlotte) were characters in themselves, in this show masterfully directed by Tobin Hissong.

The house was full tonight; not sure how many seats are left, but three performances remain: Saturdays at  both 3pm and 8pm and Sunday at 2pm.(517) 655-7469www.williamstontheatre.com