Julie Yolles - Page 2

One of the many perks of opening the new Brighton Coffeehouse and Theater (BCAT) is having the variety, versatility and creativity to showcase local talent, serve gourmet, fresh entrees and baked goods, tantalizing coffee and tea drinks and perform professional theater. BCAT opens its first professional production this weekend March 1-3 with Nora and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss & What I Wore in Brighton, Michigan. BroadwayWorld Detroit interviewed Brighton Coffeehouse and Theater Owner, Amy Goller, and Lynn Wilde Concannon, Founder and Artistic Director of A Wilde Theatre whose home stage is at Brighton Coffeehouse about everything brewing at Brighton Coffeehouse. Here's what they had to say:

On Saturday, January 26, the maize 'n blue are coming to Midtown Detroit. The incredibly talented University of Michigan Musical Theatre Seniors (UMSMTD) will be performing two shows (the 6:30 p.m. show is already sold out) as part of the Cabaret 313 series at the N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art. Broadwayworld.com/Detroit spoke with University of Michigan (UM) Department of Musical Theatre Assistant Professor of Music Jason DeBord about the upcoming Lost in Ann Arbor concert and here's what the Music Director and Pianist had to say:

Ken Ludwig, the master of farce, brings us A Comedy of Tenors, the sequel to his 1989 Tony-winning Lend Me a Tenor, which is running through December 23 at Tipping Point Theatre. If you haven't seen Lend Me a Tenor, fear not, as this script and production certainly stands on its own and you can enjoy it just as equally. And, of course, with every great farce-a la Neil Simon's Rumors and Marc Camoletti's Boeing Boeing-- comes a lot of door slamming (an integral part to Monika Essen's posh set) and mistaken identities pulled off with comical finesse by Tipping Point's cast of seven.

Guys and Dolls marked Kim Donovan's directorial debut 27 years at the Players Guild of Dearborn. She was pregnant at the time with her daughter, Maura. Frank Loesser's score must have channeled Maura's musical theatre talents in utero as she's now starring as Adelaide, "the well-known fiancee," in the Players Guild of Dearborn's 2018 production of Guys and Dolls serendipitously directed by Kim Donovan.

'Wow, that was an amazing show,' you said to yourself after leaving Detroit Public Theatre's (DPT) current production of Cry it Out. And you said that last month after seeing Pipeline at DPT. Two back-to-back shows that nailed every single aspect of what refreshing, topical and entertaining theatre should be.

Margaret Edwartowski has been told her whole life that she looks like the late pop singer Cass Elliot, or, perhaps best known onstage, as "Mama Cass" of the Mamas and the Papas. "People would always come up to me and say, 'You know who you remind me of…" Edwartowski says. "Once I learned about her and started reading about her, I tried to emulate her. She was smart, resilient and very talented."

Yesterday was a banner day for native Detroiter and prolific playwright Dominique Morisseau. The MacArthur Foundation named her one of 25 creatives to receive a no-strings-attached $625,000 five-year 'Genius Grant.' The film of Lincoln Center's production of her play Pipeline was released for a very limited nationwide screening and it was the first preview performance that night of Pipeline, the headliner for Detroit Public Theatre's (DPT) Fourth Season. BroadwayWorld Detroit spoke with DPT Pipeline Director, Candis C. Jones, and DPT Co-Producing Artistic Director Sarah Winkler, before Pipeline's official opening night on Oct. 6 and here's what they had to say:

Something Rotten! is anything but. With 10 Tony Award nominations under its codpiece, Something Rotten! is a campy spoof of Elizabethan proper meets 21st century satire with tongue-in-cheek nods to practically every musical to ever grace the Broadway stage. And it's oh-so brilliantly fun.

Since leaving Dear Evan Hansen on August 5th Rachel Bay Jones has gone from Maui to Michigan on September 22 when she'll bring 'Something Beautiful,' her one-woman concert to Detroit, as the season opener for the Cabaret 313 musical series. Here's what Rachel Bay Jones had to say about being a devoted working mom who's staying right here.

Suffice it to say that the company members of the Broadway National Tour of WICKED are popular with St. John's Episcopal Church supporters-very. While here in Michigan for their month-long stop at the Detroit Opera House-their last performance is Sept. 2- the WICKED team left the Land of Oz for one evening to perform a sold-out benefit concert in front of 450 supporters. It was Witches' Night Off and oh, what a night.

Mark Twain once said, "There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses-and then there is Sarah Bernhardt." So, it is very fitting, then, that Williamston Theatre Director Mary Job cast the masterful Karen Sheridan as the "Divine Sarah" in Memoir by John Murrell.

This weekend, an intrepid cast of five will present the staged reading of Rapture, Blister, Burn for two performances only at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5 on the Second Stage at Stagecrafters in Royal Oak. Rapture, Blister, Burn was a 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist for playwright and screenwriter Gina Gionfriddo.  Gionfriddo was also a 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist for her play Becky Shaw. Broadwayworld.com (BBW) caught up with Director Dale Feldpausch before the final tech rehearsal to talk about this staged reading.  Here's what he had to say:

Tipping Point Theatre in Northville closes out its 11th Season with Y York's romantic comedy The Impossibility of Now running through Aug. 19. The show stars real-life marrieds Julia Glander and Alex Leydenfrost who, onstage, are having an affair. BroadwayWorld Detroit (BWW Detroit) caught up with the two prior to opening night, July 21. Here's what they had to say:

If you've seen and enjoyed the musical 42nd Street, you'll undoubtedly love Thoroughly Modern Millie, now playing at the Riverbank Theatre in Marine City through July 22. 

In a savvy marketing move and perfect way to kick off the summer theatre season, Mason Street Warehouse (MSW) at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts opened with the get-happy, ABBA-tribute musical Mamma Mia! now playing at MSW through July 15.  Once you've enjoyed it live-and-in-person at Mason Street Warehouse you can head to the movie theatre on July 20 for the Mamma Mia! movie sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

Theatre-goers sure love a good ol' Southern female-bonding story y'all. Think Steel Magnolias, Crimes of the Heart and plays by the dynamic trio Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. The Dio knows a good one when it reads it which is why it has presented Jones, Hope and Wooten's The Dixie Swim Club, Always a Bridesmaid and now, through July 22, The Savannah Sipping Society (SSS).

On Saturday, June 9, an entire theatre community will come together to memorialize, embrace and celebrate the life of everyone's favorite person: Terry Heck Seibert. That same community has been mourning the unimaginable, heartbreaking loss of Heck Seibert since April 13 when she died after being struck by a car while walking her dog in her Ann Arbor neighborhood. She would have been 62 on May 5.

Do you want to be all dressed up with some place to go on Sunday, June 10, for theatre lovers' most sacred night?  The Maple Theater invites you to walk the red carpet, have your picture taken, enjoy live music, dine on a sumptuous five-course dinner and then have unlimited popcorn and soda while watching the 72nd Annual Tony Awards live broadcast.

For Broadway actor and playwright James Hindman, eight is not enough. The Michigan native, who grew up in Mt. Clemens and was in all the plays at L'Anse Creuse High School and Eastern Michigan University, has been back home from NYC this week tweaking and perfecting his ninth play, Popcorn Falls.  Hindman's newest work, a crazy, fast-paced comedy, a la Waiting for Guffman meets Greater Tuna, makes a return visit to the Snug Theatre in Marine City.

Allee Willis loves Detroit.  So much so that the Detroit native named her one-woman show, ALLEE WILLIS LOVES DETROIT!  And fans are invited to party and sing along with her at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 18-19 at Detroit's City Theatre. The Grammy, Tony, Emmy and Webby award-winning-and-nominated songstress--writer of many mega-hits including Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' and 'Boogie Wonderland;' 'Neutron Dance,' the theme from television's 'Friends' and Broadway's Oprah-produced musical The Color Purple has been defending 'The D' from her kitschy Pepto-Bismol-pink house in North Hollywood, Calif. for over 40 years.