Find out what films, events and series are currently on the slate at the Michigan Theater.
Also check out our other series and programs:

UM B-School Follies presents
IMPORTED FROM ANN ARBOR

Friday, February 3 & Saturday, February 4 at 8:00 PM

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Follies is an on-stage satire of life at the Ross School of Business performed annually in February. Trenchant wit, glorious vocal stylings, a rebellious attitude, and too much pancake makeup all coagulate to create what was once rumored to be "the grandest two-act production ever to shake the bellies of so many souls residing in this Venerable Northwestern Territory." This is all thanks to a great many hours contributed by scores of talented hands – cerebral comedy writers, visionary scene directors, Johnny-on-the-spot stage coordinators, astute marketers and more actors than you can shake a stick at. Filled with outrageous skits, videos and music, the show is one of the largest events of the year, with performances from students, staff, faculty, spouses and significant others. 

For more information, contact the Follies Production Board at fbakunkl@umich.edu.

National Theatre Live: TRAVELING LIGHT
A new play by Nicholas Wright
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Sunday, February 19 at 7:00 PM

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In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father's cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of story-telling. Forty years on, Motl - now a famed American film director - looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams.

How had a twenty-two-year-old pretentious layabout made a discovery that would elude every other cinematic pioneer for years to come?

Following Vincent in Brixton and The Reporter, Nicholas Wright’s new play is a funny and fascinating tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood’s golden age. The award-winning Antony Sher returns plays Jacob.

UMS and the Michigan Theater join forces to bring high-definition screenings of live theater broadcasts by the National Theatre, London. These broadcasts feature plays produced by the National Theatre on cinema screens worldwide. In the US, these “live” screenings are delayed to accommodate the time difference. Broadcasts feature behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with actors. Detailed running times are posted on the UMS website approximately 7-14 days before each screening. Tickets for each National Theatre Live event may be purchased at the UMS Ticket Office or online at www.ums.org. Tickets will be sold at the Michigan Theater beginning 90 minutes before each broadcast.

freNZ presents
VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD: TAKE 3

Friday, February 24 at 7:00 PM

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The Neutral Zone’s freNZ Committee invites Ann Arborites to dress in their finest “red carpet” attire and enjoy an evening of film, music, drinks, food, and Tinsel Town glamour in support of Neutral Zone programs. Held in the historic Michigan Theater, the evening will feature music by Neutral Zone teen musicians, film shorts, and a dance party.

 

 

A2SO: ONCE UPON A TIMPANI
Benard L. Maas Foundation Family Series Concert

Saturday, March 10, at 4:00 PM
Featuring a Sphinx soloist
Pre-concert Activities from 2:30 - 3:30 PM

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Daugherty: "Oh Lois!" from Metropolis Symphony
Mendelssohn: "Scherzo" from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61
Prokofiev: "Waltz" and "Midnight" from Cinderella, Op. 87
Williams: Harry Potter Symphonic Suite
Tchaikovsky: "Waltz" from The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66
Stravinsky: "Infernal Dance" and "Finale" from The Firebird

Join your Symphony for a fairy tale afternoon, from the beloved tales of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, to action-packed adventures of Superman and Harry Potter. Composer Michael Daugherty hosts this performance of musical tales, guaranteed to leave you feeling happily ever after.

"I always enjoy working with Maestro Lipsky and the symphony musicians. Plus, the A2SO youth concert provides a great way for living composers like me to interact with local students and teachers. Ann Arbor is a very special place to live, and this is one of the reasons why!" Michael Daugherty

A2SO: MASTERWORKS

Saturday, March 17 at 8:00 PM

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Daugherty: "Oh, Lois!" from the Metropolis Symphony
Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

Opening this special concert is "Oh, Lois!" from the comic book-inspired Metropolis Symphony by Ann Arbor Grammy Award winner Michael Daugherty. Daugherty, a member of the composition faculty at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance, is a musical superhero himself, as one of the most frequently commissioned, programmed, and recorded current American composers. The award-winning Metropolis Symphony (composed between 1988 and 1993) was one of his ground-breaking successes, and the first in a series of works inspired by iconic American figures. Concertmaster Berofsky will perform Saint- Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor. It is considered one of the most romantic and monumental of all 19th-century violin concertos. "What we adore about Aaron's playing is his gorgeous sound, elegant approach, and seemingly effortless virtuosity," says Maestro Lipsky.

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor depicts the ultimate triumph of perseverance through adversity. The undeniable power of this dramatic work will leave you breathless. Tchaikovsky's genius is reflected in his transforming a somber minor theme in the first movement into one of the greatest moments for concert goers with the full orchestra finale.

Aaron Berofsky, A2SO's Concertmaster, was the soloist in the A2SO Naxos recording Fetler Violin Concerto recorded live at the Michigan Theater. An internationally renowned chamber musician and soloist, Berofsky is a Professor at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

National Theatre Live: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Dominic Cooke
Sunday, March 18 at 7:00 PM

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Dominic Cooke, director of the Royal Court Theatre in London, comes to the National for the first time to direct Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. UK comedian and actor Lenny Henry makes his National Theatre debut as Antipholus of Syracuse.

UMS and the Michigan Theater join forces to bring high-definition screenings of live theater broadcasts by the National Theatre, London. These broadcasts feature plays produced by the National Theatre on cinema screens worldwide. In the US, these “live” screenings are delayed to accommodate the time difference. Broadcasts feature behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with actors. Detailed running times are posted on the UMS website approximately 7-14 days before each screening. Tickets for each National Theatre Live event may be purchased at the UMS Ticket Office or online at www.ums.org. Tickets will be sold at the Michigan Theater beginning 90 minutes before each broadcast.

LEVON HELM BAND
With Special Guest Joe Pug
Presented by The Ark
Monday, March 19, at 7:30 PM

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Levon Helm, Grammy Winner, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, drummer and actor, has enjoyed a versatile career that spans almost five decades. From the early days with Ronnie Hawkins to his legendary years with Bob Dylan, Levon has been both a rudder and a sail for The Band and his assorted bands. He calls his drummer's stool "the best seat in the house," because he can see his fellow musicians and his audience simultaneously. In recent years, his imagination and vision conceived The Midnight Ramble Sessions, a series of live performances at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock. The monthly Rambles have been so successful they are usually sold out in advance. What pleases him most, then and now, is that his audience is having a good time.

HENRY ROLLINS - The Long March Tour

Thursday, March 22 at 8:00 PM

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In 1980 Henry Rollins was a teenager living in Arlington, Virginia, and a huge fan of a Southern California punk rock band called Black Flag. One day he and his friend Ian MacKaye (who later formed Fugazi) drove to New York City to see Black Flag play at the Peppermint Lounge. They played later at a small club down the street, and Henry jumped on stage and took the mike for a song. A few days later he was called back to New York to audition for the band. Henry spent the next six years riding in vans, sleeping in the back of trucks, getting beaten and mauled on stage and fronting the baddest, most primal rock-and-roll band in the history of the world. Since 1986 Henry has enjoyed a more pleasant lifestyle and career as a singer. He is a published (and often lucid) poet. His band Rollins Band, was a highlight of the Woodstock '94 concert. His autobiography, "Get In The Van", is available in print and as a self-narrated compact disc. He has written several articles for Details, an American magazine.

National Theatre Live: SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER
By Oliver Goldsmith
Directed by Jamie Lloyd
Wednesday, April 11 at 7:00 PM

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Hardcastle, a man of substance, looks forward to acquainting his daughter with his old pal's son with a view to marriage. But thanks to playboy Lumpkin, he's mistaken by his prospective son-in-law Marlow for an innkeeper, his daughter for the local barmaid. The good news is, while Marlow can barely speak to a woman of quality he's a charmer with those of a different stamp. And so, as Hardcastle's indignation intensifies, Miss Hardcastle's appreciation for her misguided suitor soars. Misdemeanours multiply, love blossoms, mayhem ensues.

One of the great, generous-hearted and ingenious comedies of the English language, Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer offers a celebration of chaos, courtship and the dysfunctional family.

UMS and the Michigan Theater join forces to bring high-definition screenings of live theater broadcasts by the National Theatre, London. These broadcasts feature plays produced by the National Theatre on cinema screens worldwide. In the US, these “live” screenings are delayed to accommodate the time difference. Broadcasts feature behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with actors. Detailed running times are posted on the UMS website approximately 7-14 days before each screening. Tickets for each National Theatre Live event may be purchased at the UMS Ticket Office or online at www.ums.org. Tickets will be sold at the Michigan Theater beginning 90 minutes before each broadcast.

Cheikh Lô
Presented by UMS

Friday, April 13 at 8:00 PM

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Cheikh Lô is one of the great mavericks of African music. A superb singer and songwriter, as well as a distinctive guitarist and drummer, he has personalized and distilled a variety of influences from West and Central Africa to create a style that is uniquely his own. Lô dedicates both his life and music to Bave Fall, a Senegalese form of Islam and part of the larger Islamic brotherhood of Mouridism, which emerged at the end of the19th century from opposition to French colonialism. Bave Fall is distinguished visually by patchwork clothing and long dreadlocks that lead some to confuse it with Rastafarianism. Born to Senegalese parents in Burkina Faso near the Malian border, Lô was interested in music from an early age, running away from school to teach himself guitar and percussion on borrowed instruments. As a teenager, he was influenced by Cuban music, which was all the rage in West Africa at the time. After emigrating to Paris and then returning to Senegal in the late 1980s, Lô attracted both the attention of and comparisons to Youssou N’Dour, who produced two of his early albums. His signature sound, based on the popular national mbalax style, was an instant success in Senegal and prompted rave reviews on his European tour: “a compelling performer with energy and personality to match that of the early Bob Marley.” (The Guardian, London) More recently, Lô has immersed himself in the Dakar scene, and his return home is reflected in his new album, Jamm. His blend of semi-acoustic flavors — West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco — has been distilled into his most mature, focused, yet diverse statement today, with his husky, sensual voice sounding better than ever.

CHARLES LLOYD NEW QUARTET
Presented by UMS

Saturday, April 14 at 8:00 PM

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Forty years ago, saxophonist Charles Lloyd was a pop star; his 1966 album, Forest Flower, sold a million copies. Four years ago, at 69, when most individuals are thinking of ways to slow down and kick back, Lloyd shifted to a higher gear and formed a new quartet. Lloyd has always led exceptional bands, and this is perhaps the best. With MacArthur fellow Jason Moran on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Eric Harland on drums, the Quartet’s concerts are events of pristine beauty and elegance, full of intensely-felt emotion and passion that touches deep inside the heart. This is not entertainment, but the powerful uncorrupted expression of beauty through music. Lloyd’s latest release, Mirrors, “sees him attaining jazz nirvana, calling numbers that channel his love of Monk, eastern spiritualism, California, and traditional gospel music. Listening is like a meditation, and the sparse, taut accompaniment of the quartet keeps everything in focus.” (Jazz Choice)

The Original Béla Fleck & The Flecktones World Tour
presented by The Ark

Thursday, April 19 at 8:00 PM

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Béla Fleck is often considered the premier banjo player in the world. A New York City native, he picked up the banjo at age 15 after being awed by the bluegrass music of Flatt & Scruggs. While still in high school he began experimenting with playing bebop jazz on his banjo, mentored by fellow banjo renegade Tony Trischka. In 1980, he released his first solo album, Crossing the Tracks, with material that ranged from straight ahead bluegrass to Chick Corea's "Spain." In 1982, Fleck joined the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, making a name for himself on countless solo and ensemble projects ever since as a virtuoso instrumentalist. In 1989 he formed the genre-busting Flecktones, with members equally talented and adventurous as himself.

Throw Down Your Heart, the third volume in Béla's renowned Tales From the Acoustic Planet series, is his most ambitious project to date. In on-location collaborations with musicians from Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Mali, South Africa and Madagascar, Béla Fleck explores the African origins of the banjo, the prototype of which was brought to American shores by African slaves. Throw Down Your Heart is a companion to the award-winning film of the same name, which Béla and director Sascha Paladino are currently premiering at festivals nationwide. Transcending barriers of language and culture, Fleck finds common ground with musicians ranging from local villagers to international superstars such as the Malian diva Oumou Sangare to create some of the most meaningful music of his career.

THE FAB FAUX

Saturday, April 21 at 8:00 PM

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Following their awe-inspiring Michigan Theater debut in 2011, THE FAB FAUX will return to Ann Arbor and perform the Beatles’ masterpiece SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, considered by many to be the best album of all-time, along with a mixed set of late-era Beatles favorites. To achieve all the dazzling effects included on the album, the concert will feature the Hogshead Horns and the Creme Tangerine Strings.

As the crowd who saw them perform ABBEY ROAD last spring will testify, THE FAB FAUX is no ordinary Beatles cover band. The group includes outstanding New York studio musicians - and lifelong Beatles fans - who meticulously replicate the complex material that the Beatles themselves never performed live.

THE FAB FAUX on YouTube.