MSU's Summer Circle Theatre, 'SpongeBob' at Riverwalk and Sistrum concert on tap in coming weeks
- MSU's Summer Circle Theatre offers free outdoor performances for three weekends, starting June 5.
- Riverwalk Theatre presents "The SpongeBob Musical" from May 29 to June 8.
- Sistrum's rescheduled concert, "Our Mother, Our Home," takes place May 30-31.
Act I: MSU begins Season 63 of free, outdoor theater
As the sun rises on summer, Michigan State University Department of Theatre opens the curtains on its 63rd annual Summer Circle Theatre season.
For three weekends, Summer Circle offers free, outdoor theater on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This year’s fare focuses on family friendly offerings with a mix of comedy, drama and a children’s musical.
All shows are at the Summer Circle Courtyard east of the MSU Auditorium.
The season opens June 5-8 with a Neil Simon favorite, “Fools.” Directed by Brad Willcuts, the two-hour show is set in a small fictional village in the 1890s. A school teacher arrives to tutor the doctor’s daughter and learns that there is a curse on the village that has turned everyone into a fool.
The second show takes a more serious turn with Lauren Gunderson’s “I and You.” Directed by Ryan Patrick Welsh, this show is for teens and older as it focuses on a homebound teen dealing with a serious illness and her charismatic classmate who shows up to work on a school project about Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass." This show runs 1 hour and 45 minutes and will be presented June 12-15.
From June 19-22, the Department of Theatre will present Elephant and Piggie’s “We Are in a Play” by Mo Willems. Directed by Alexis Black with musical direction by Dave Wendelberger, the 1 hour and 25 minute show is about friendship, sharing and surprises. Gerald the Elephant and Piggie the Pig have embarked on a vaudeville adventure.
Weekly shows are at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 4 p.m. on Sundays. Free parking is available in Lot 9 across from the Auditorium starting at 6 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends.
Concessions are available or you can bring your own picnic. If it rains, shows will be moved into the MSU Auditorium Building. Shows are free, but donations are welcome.
Act II: Zany SpongeBob musical takes over Riverwalk
The Riverwalk Theatre stage is heading under the sea from May 29 to June 8 to visit Bikini Bottom and its whimsical, quirky residents. In this family friendly musical based on the Nickelodeon animated series, “SpongeBob Square Pants,” the title character must save his home and neighbors from a volcanic eruption.
“SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical” opened on Broadway in 2017 with lyrics contributed by such artists as David Bowie, Panic! at the Disco, Cyndi Lauper, The Flaming Lips, Sara Bareilles, They Might Be Giants, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Lady Antebellum and Tom Kenny, who voiced the original SpongeBob in the television series.
The Riverwalk production features Michael Palmer as SpongeBob, Ny’Kieria Blocker as Sandy Cheeks, TJ Kelly as Patrick Star, Elise Griffiths as Squidward and Christopher Pangracz as Mr. Krabs along with 19 others.
Saturday matinee productions will be designed to accommodate people with sensory sensitivities.
The musical marks Marcus Fields’ directorial debut with Riverwalk, though he’s worked on productions with Riverwalk, East Lansing Community Theatre, and Peppermint Creek Theatre Company.
Fields said he grew up watching the Nickelodeon cartoon with his twin brother.
“He showed me this musical several times,” Fields said. “It’s one of his favorite shows. When the opportunity came up to be considered for directing it, I was excited by the chance to guide the vision of this production at Riverwalk."
Part of his vision includes injecting a little more emotional realism into the relationships of the characters living under the sea. After a major conflict in the show, Fields changes the town’s reconciliation.
“In most productions, the townspeople seem to reconcile very quickly during ‘Best Day Ever.’ But in our version, that transition is slower and more grounded,” Fields explained. “You don’t get to treat your fellow community members poorly and immediately hold hands and sing. In our show, SpongeBob is broken, and so are the bonds of Bikini Bottom.”
Fields isn’t the only one new to the directing team. Three choreographers are making their debut—Meghan Laskos, Lauren Mudry and Reyna Martinez.
“This show wouldn’t have come together without these three amazing women,” Fields said.
Alan Sloan is the music director and more than half of the cast are performing for the first time on Riverwalk’s stage.
Act III: Sistrum recovers from COVID with rescheduled concert
While they had planned to celebrate motherhood on Mother’s Day, COVID had other ideas.
Sistrum, Lansing’s all-women chorus, had to postpone their spring concert after a COVID outbreak sidelined many of the chorus members. However, they are back on the calendar with a new date and a new venue.
The choir will be performing “Our Mother, Our Home” at The People’s Church of East Lansing at 7 p.m. May 30 and 3 p.m. May 31.
Directed by Meghan Eldred-Woolsey, the concert is dedicated to Mother Earth with songs paying tribute to the planet and issuing a call to protect it for the future.
Encore!
- You can catch a mix of jazz and poetry at the Blue Owl Coffeeshop in REO Town from 3-5 p.m. June 1. They’ll be hosting an event with poetry from Cheryl Caesar, former Lansing poet laureate Dennis Hinrichsen, Rina Risper and current Lansing poet laureate Ruelaine Stokes. They’ll be accompanied by a jazz trio that features Hank Horton on bass, Steve Talaga on keyboard and Lary Ochletree on drums. Mike Eyia will provide vocals. The event is free.
- An interactive mystery dinner show has arrived in Lansing. The interactive, comedy experience features actors hidden in the audience as guests try to solve the murder. “Dirty Money” will be performed at AC Hotel Lansing University Area, 3160 E. Michigan Ave., on May 24, June 7 and 21, July 12 and 19 and Aug. 9. Dinner includes choice of chicken Marsala, seared salmon or spinach ravioli. Tickets are $69.95.