This Valentine’s Day weekend, Wharton Center audiences will be treated to the final performance of The Best of Bernstein’s Broadway, a collaboration between singer/songwriter Morgan James and acclaimed conductor Teddy Abrams. The show, set for February 16th, will feature selections of Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway works in celebration of the 2018 centennial.
I spoke with Morgan James about the upcoming show, her experiences on Broadway, and her ambitious cover album projects.
The spirit of Ella Fitzgerald will come to life later this month, when the Wharton Center welcomes Grammy Award-nominated jazz violinist Regina Carter. The Detroit native is bringing her new Simply Ella show to East Lansing on Friday, February 22. Carter, considered one of the world’s best jazz violinists, was awarded the prestigious fellowship “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation in 2006.
I spoke with her about her 2019 Grammy nomination, the role of music in her life since childhood, and what she would ask Ella Fitzgerald if she had ever been given the chance.
This past weekend, the Barre Code wrapped up its Resolution Remix challenge for the month of January. The goal was to use a bingo card filled with challenges to mix things up, from trying new formats and class times to completing a one-minute plank or 20 burpees. I knew with the right amount of planning, I could accomplish my goal of blacking out my bingo card.
I was so excited when I finished up the challenge with over a week to spare, filling in all of the spaces by January 23rd. I was the second client at our studio to get it done, and by this weekend, there were 19 of us who accomplished this goal.
All the remix bingos
This challenge helped push me into a new gear for the beginning of 2019. I’ve been a faithful Barre Code client since hitting the ground running (or tucking, or squatting, or pulsing, rather) in September 2018, but the Resolution Remix challenge was just the thing I needed to tap into that New Year Motivation mood.
Then, this past Super Bowl Sunday, Zack and I also participated in a 5k with his boss, Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Governor Whitmer’s goal for 2019 is to complete one 5k a month, and she just so happened to be signed up for one not too far from our house. When Zack said he had volunteered to help staff the governor and needed to do the 5k, I decided to sign up at the last minute. While my shins are really feeling it a couple of days later, it was so great to do something new and unexpected to mix up my routine.
Getting to that finish line with the governor
These accomplishments are helping to distract me from the fact that while I’m transforming in some ways, other things aren’t changing as quickly. The big one is the number on the scale.
That darn scale. No matter how often I try to avoid using it all together, or try to focus on the strength I have gained over these last several months, I can’t help but let a part of me focus on the fact that this is one tangible change I’m not seeing yet. The number, though lower now than it was in September, is moving at a snail’s pace.
On January 24th, 2019, the final Michigan performance from Jessica Lang Dance will take place at the Wharton Center. Artistic Director Jessica Lang is the mastermind behind her company’s diverse lineup of original works. I spoke with her about the final tour with her company, her method for choreography, and what’s next for her.
It’s safe to say that our daughter Margot is OBSESSED with “Frozen.” I have watched the original movie, plus the “Frozen Fever” short and “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” special, more times that I care to admit. There are always requests from the back seat for “Anna song!!” As we approached Margot’s second birthday, it made sense to have “Frozen” be the theme.
That thought was further set in stone when I saw a post on Facebook a few months ago about a company called Princesses by Bianca. Looking at the photos and learning about the company, I thought that having Anna and Elsa at Margot’s party would be the perfect entertainment for Margot and her little friends. Who doesn’t love meeting Disney characters? We knew Margot would go nuts when she saw them, but it was also fun imagining how all of her friends would enjoy it, too.
With Margot’s birthday falling on a holiday, it has made sense to have her birthday parties a week or two later to give us time to prepare and have more people in town. Wouldn’t you know it that after a month of no snow, Margot’s birthday party day would also be the first big snow storm of the year?
We joked that it was our fault for inviting Elsa and Anna to Okemos for the day. But despite the worries about the roads and the layers of salt in our foyer, it ended up being the perfect backdrop for a pretty magical afternoon.
As a child of the 90s, the animated offerings bestowed upon my generation were an embarrassment of riches. Seeing these films in the theater and watching them hundreds of times on VHS left many imprints on my childhood memories. Just a couple of decades later, our appetite for all things comforting and nostalgic has been whetted by remakes and revivals on both stage and screen.
In that way, it’s no surprise that the opening night of “Anastasia” at Wharton Center felt like a dreamy journey to the past. “Anastasia” will play to audiences at Wharton Center through January 20, 2019.
I still remember seeing the 1997 animated film as a 12-year-old girl in a theater in Atlanta, where we were visiting family over Thanksgiving break. I remember singing the songs with friends at sleepovers. I introduced the movie to my oldest daughter, who was also my date opening night.
Experiencing the story and music of “Anastasia” in a new and exciting way took time, but it was worth the wait.
“Anastasia,” based on the 1997 animated film, explores what might have happened if Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia were still alive, miraculously escaping the execution of her family in the early 20th century. The story follows Anya, an orphan with few keys to her past, who joins two con men aimed at passing her off as the Grand Duchess.
Stephen Brower stars as Dmitry, one of the men leading Anya on the journey to finding her family and a character many 90s kids will remember rivaling Prince Eric for their affections.
Stephen Brower
I spoke with him on a blustery and cold January day (how Russian of us) about his work in “Anastasia,” his unlikely activity outside of theatre, and what he hopes audiences will take away from the show.
Some Christmas gifts strike us to the core, whether it’s due to the excitement, the thoughtfulness, or the emotion. There are years where I can look back and remember opening certain gifts so distinctly, and the feeling I felt when I opened them.
I remember the year in elementary school when I asked my mom to get me a leather hat like the one Alyssa from “All That” on Nickelodeon wore in the opening credits, and she actually found one just like it! I wore it all of Christmas Day and in the months after.
I remember the year in high school when my friend Andrea made me a poetry writing notebook just like one of her own, with a paperclip chain along the spiral and photos of The Beatles and old library book pages pasted on the cover and insides. After admiring her notebooks for so long, it meant so much to have one made just for me.
I remember just a few years ago, before getting pregnant with Margot, when Zack surprised me with a weekend trip to Boston, planning only the flights and hotel because he knows how much I love planning restaurant reservations and excursions down to the hour. I spent our Christmas Day commute to my parents’ house securing our dinners and getting tickets to see Guster at the Boston House of Blues.
And I will always remember this Christmas as the year I received a gift so unexpected, so sentimental and precious, that it caused me to break down in tears at the sight of it.
This past weekend, I had my first experience with Rent the Runway. And let me say, I am a changed woman.
I own more than my fair share of dresses, but as I began to consider what I might want to wear to my friend Jen’s mid-December wedding, I realized that much of what I own is for warmer seasons. Rent the Runway to the rescue!
Rent the Runway allows you to borrow designer clothing and accessories for any type of occasion for a fraction of the cost of buying the clothing in a store. Think a $95 rental fee on a Monique Lhuillier dress that retails for close to $700. The outfits are shipped to your home, you wear the one that works best, and send everything back through UPS when you’re done.
Over a Black Friday weekend full of online promotions, Rent the Runway was offering some great deals, including a percentage off a rental and a free back-up outfit. I decided to give it a try and browsed through the dresses that would be available in my size for the wedding weekend.
Amid a month of holiday festivities, on the third night of Hanukkah, the Wharton Center welcomed the touring production of the 1964 Broadway classic, “Fiddler on the Roof.” The timing and setting could not be more appropriate for this celebration of a show, playing now through December 9th.
In the stripped down but exquisitely rich production from Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher and the team behind “South Pacific“ and “The King and I,” audiences will enjoy the timeless themes of family, love, and traditions. Not to mention, the infectious score and memorable songs. On opening night, the audience couldn’t help but clap along with the orchestra at the beginning of Act II.
