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Wristbands to be distributed for Darren Criss' free Sonic Lunch show in Ann Arbor

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New Ann Arbor in Concert group presenting inaugural show 'Ragtime'

A rehearsal for "Ragtime."

photo courtesy of Ann Arbor in Concert

Henry Aldridge honored for contributions to EMU and Michigan Theater

Eastern Michigan University Professor Henry Aldridge is honored at the Michigan Theater on Thursday.

Courtney Sacco | AnnArbor.com

Many know him as a film studies professor at EMU, the one who started the Electronic Media and Film Studies program. Also a well-published scholar of the history of film exhibition, Aldridge is retiring after over 4 decades of teaching.

Aldridge is also the man they credit for helping to save the Michigan Theater its Barton Organ from demolition in the late 1970s. A longtime theater volunteer, the antique pipe organ's curator, and an emeritus board member, Aldridge may know the theater better than almost anyone else in town.

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with video: 12th annual Jewish Film Festival to feature broad range of movies

The documentary "Hava Nagila" will play on the first night of Ann Arbor's Jewish Film Festival.

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Ann Arbor Symphony delivers a riveting, powerful Mahler 'Tragic' Symphony

The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s season finale at the Michigan Theater Saturday evening began with announcements of good things to come for the orchestra and its maestro, Music Director Arie Lipsky. You can read all about it in the sidebar accompanying this review.

But there were good things ahead in the 85 minutes that followed these announcements. Or rather, one good thing: the massive Mahler “Tragic” Symphony, No. 6 in A Minor.

This extraordinary music is an exhausting and exhilarating journey for orchestra, conductor and audience, an endurance test physically and emotionally. And on this occasion, the orchestra, brass and woodwind rich, did far more than endure. Under Lipsky’s baton and with new faces in some principal chairs (including the former concertmaster, Stephen Shipps, substituting brilliantly for Aaron Berofsky), the orchestra delivered a riveting performance of this dramatic, intense, complicated work.

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Ann Arbor Symphony closing out season with Mahler's massive 'Tragic' Symphony

How to end a season? For the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in recent years, the answer has been a grand work—2012’s "Carmina Burana," for example.

This year is no exception. Saturday at the Michigan Theater, the orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Arie Lipsky, closes out its 2012-2013 season with one massive, towering work: Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, often called “the Tragic.”

There are many questions about whether that title was one Mahler bestowed on the work, or wanted attached to it. But it’s a detail, among many, about this work, that continues to resonate as the work passes its 100th birthday.

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with video: Local filmmakers Keith Jefferies and Jeff Meyers showcasing 4 short films

Local filmmakers Keith Jefferies and Jeff Meyers will screen four original short films—which have played at film festivals and earned awards—at the Michigan Theater screening room on Monday, April 22 at 5 p.m.

Michigan Theater to host seventh Young Filmmakers Camp this summer

The Michigan Theater, 603 East Liberty Street

concert review

with poll : Great big fun from Canada's Great Big Sea at Michigan Theater anniversary show

What did you think of the show? Leave a comment and / or vote in the poll at the end of this post:

Great Big Sea publicity photo

As expected, it was a high-energy performance for a fired-up crowd that was on its feet for most of the concert, dancing and singing along. The hardcore fan to the left of me even knew the words to the new songs, not to mention the old ones.

Although the performance was at the Michigan, it was presented by The Ark, where GBS first played here 18 years ago.

With no opening act, Great Big Sea took the stage as a video montage played clips of the band over the years. Starting with “Ordinary Day,” the show’s more than 30 tunes unfolded on a simple stage with a backdrop that included lit-up twin Roman numeral XXs.

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with poll : Fab Faux delivers the entire Beatles 'White Album' to appreciative Michigan Theater crowd

What did you think of the concert? Leave a comment and / or vote in the poll at the end of this post:

Fab Faux publciity photo

Enter the Fab Faux, a Beatles cover band that tackled the entire "White Album" from beginning to end at the Michigan Theater on Saturday.

With an obsessive devotion to getting every note, beat, or far-out sound effect exactly right, the Fab Faux re-creates the songs just as they were recorded. From the start of "Back in the U.S.S.R" to their encore of the 2-sided single released along with the "White Album," which featured "Revolution" and "Hey Jude," the music sounded like the original. The difference, a big one, is that audience members got to hear the songs live and bouncing off the acoustically superb walls of the Michigan Theater—always better than an iPod.

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Performance by Israeli pop singer Noa will help celebrate Israel's 65th birthday locally

Noa

They jumped at the chance to book her for a Wednesday evening concert at the Michigan Theater. The concert will feature musical director and guitarist Gil Dor, percussionist Gadi Seri, and the Yoed Nir String Quartet. The University of Michigan Hillel’s a cappella group, Kol Ha’Kavod, will open the show.

“Noa is world-renowned and she’s an international star who just came off a world tour. She is a really incredible performer,” said Eileen Freed, who is coordinating Israel Independence Day project events, including the concert, for the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor.

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Great Big Sea washes ashore Tuesday for 20th anniversary show at the Michigan Theater

Great Big Sea

The foursome will play plenty of old favorites as well as some new tunes at an Ark-sponsored concert at the Michigan Theater. Anyone who has seen Great Big Sea live knows to expect a high-energy performance and an equally fired-up crowd that’s on its feet for most of the show. And—trust me—they know every word of every song, even the new ones.

“We’ve prided ourselves from day one on giving people a great night out,” frontman Alan Doyle explained recently. “That’s what music started for me as a little kid—music was a great night out at home, it was a great night out in the pubs. That’s never left me. The first and foremost function of a concert is to give people a great night out. That’s what I want to do and I want to have one myself.”

According to Doyle, the secret of the band’s longevity is simple: “We wanted to do it really badly,” he said. “There’s a big pile of reasons to stop you along the way. You have to have a real honest to God desire to do it the next day. We’ve always wanted to do this for a living, not just for a weekend.”

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Michigan Pops Concert to take audience on a 'Revolutionary' adventure

Revolution. Our country was built on it. The French tamed the nobility. Russia, China and Cuba became socialist nations. Revolutions can also inspire some epic songs.

Tippi Hedren talks about kissing Sean Connery and more at the Michigan Theater

The Lucy Ann Lance Show: Tippi Hedren talks about her life in film before free 'Marnie' screening

Movie actress Tippi Hedren - who will speak after a special free screening of Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie" at the Michigan Theater tonight (Tuesday, April 9) at 7:30 p.m. - spoke with local radio personality Lucy Ann Lance on Tuesday morning.

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with video: Fab Faux returning, this time to re-create the music of the Beatles' 'White Album'

The Fab Faux

But the Faux are not a mere Beatles "tribute" band, like Beatlemania, or 1964 or Rain. Those groups focus(ed) on mimicking the Beatles' live shows (or videos) of the early / mid-1960s—with an emphasis on mop-top haircuts (or wigs), vintage early-'60s suits, psychedelic "Sgt Pepper's"-era regalia, and fake Brit accents—and less emphasis on the Beatles' actual recordings.

The Faux don't go in for any of that. They don't dress up like the Beatles, and they talk and sing in their own voices—they don't "pretend" to be the Beatles onstage. Instead, they have a laser-like focus on reproducing the Beatles' songs, the way they were recorded.

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Esperanza Spalding fills the Michigan Theater with exceptional jazz

What did you think of the concert? Leave a comment and/or vote in the poll at the end of this post:

Esperanza Spalding performs at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival last year.

Jazz virtuoso Esperanza Spalding brought a big band and a big sound to the Michigan Theater on Saturday. Between her superhuman vocal control and impressive bass playing—both electric and upright—Spalding's performance was mesmerizing.

Her 11-piece band, the Radio Music Society, was just as responsible for captivating Ann Arbor's crowd. The layers of sound created by the large horn section, drums, keyboard, guitar, and Spalding on bass diverged, converged, and went on wonderful tangents. At times it made your brain tingle. In all, the songstress and her band put on an energetic, technically sophisticated show.

The Grammy-winning composer, vocalist, and bassist has a talent for music that parallels jazz masters much older than the 28-year-old. Already studying music at the college level by her mid-teens (she left high school with a GED when she was only 15), by age 20 she was the youngest faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Author Neil Gaiman coming to Michigan Theater; tickets on sale soon

The event, sponsored by Nicola's Books, will include readings from the new work, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane"; a Q-and-A session with the audience; and a book signing. A hardcopy cover of the new book is included in the ticket prices, which are $30, $45 and $60.

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Acclaimed Esperanza Spalding playing Michigan Theater this weekend

Esperanza Spalding plays at the Power Center during the 2012 Ann Arbor Summer Festival.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com file photo

That was surprising on two levels: One, Justin Bieber was also nominated in that category, and, as we know, the Grammys often care more about popularity than artistry. And, two, she was the first jazz artist to ever win that award.

Then, in 2012, Spalding's "Radio Music Society"—her most eclectic recording so far—debuted at No. 10 on Billboard’s jazz chart and soon leapt to the No. 1 position, and also received critical hosannas.

Fast-forward to this February, and Spalding was again a Grammy winner. She won the Best Jazz Vocal Album award for "Radio Music Society" and—along with her longtime teacher and mentor, trumpeter Thara Memory—also won in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) category for the song “City of Roses.”

Spalding comes to the Michigan Theater on Saturday for a show presented by the University Musical Society. On this tour, she's fronting an 11-piece band.

with video: Danny Glover and 'Shenandoah' filmmakers discuss race at the Michigan Theater

Danny Glover spoke with fans Wednesday evening at the Michigan Theater, following a screening of a documentary he produced, "Shenandoah."

Jenn McKee | AnnArbor.com