| Arts
& Humanities
Players de Noc announce forty-fifth
season line-up
Players de Noc kicks off its forty-fifth season in raucous fashion
with a production of Ken Ludwig’s comedy, Leading Ladies.
Following in the comic footsteps of Players’ productions
of two of Ludwig’s earlier comedies, Lend Me a Tenor and
Moon Over Buffalo, Leading Ladies follows the misadventures of
two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, who find themselves
so down on their luck they are performing “Scenes from Shakespeare”
on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania.
When they hear that an old lady in York (Pennsylvania) is about
to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews,
they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and
get the cash. The trouble is, when they arrive in York, they discover
the nephews actually are nieces.
Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoats
in love with the old lady’s vivacious niece, Meg, who’s
engaged to the local minister. Meg knows there’s a wide world
out there but it’s not until she meets “Maxine”
and “Stephanie” that she finally gets a taste of it.
Directed by Jim Soderberg, Leading Ladies opens September 25 and
continues September 26 and October 1, 2 and 3 at 8:00 p.m. with
a 2:00 p.m. matinee on September 27.
Players de Noc veteran, Cathy Wilson, makes her directorial debut
in the December slot, bringing Tom Dudzick’s thoughtful comedy,
Greetings! Andy has a sweet Catholic mother, a sour Catholic father
and a very special brother.
When Andy comes home for Christmas this year he is bringing company,
his agnostic fiancée. Things start to simmer as soon as
all of them come together under one roof. While several of Andy’s
worst fears about family blow-ups are realized, this Christmas
Eve takes a twist no one could have imagined…well, almost
no one. This out-of-left-field miracle propels the family and
the audience through a wild exploration of love, religion, family,
personal truth and the nature of earthly reality that leaves everyone
with a healthy dose of holiday spirit and a hearty helping of
food for thought. Greetings! runs December 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12
at 8:00 p.m. with a matinee at 2:00 p.m. on December 6.
Jeff Woerpel and Laura Robinson lead off the second half of the
season with a musical slice of humorous ancient history, A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The story follows Pseudolus,
the cunning Roman slave who’ll do anything to win his freedom.
The plot hinges on three Roman houses set next to each other.
One is the home of Pseudolus’s masters: the philandering
Senex, his domineering wife Domina, and their handsome but empty
headed son, Hero. The second house is a brothel belonging to the
unctuous procurer, Lycus.
The third house has been empty for some time. Its owner, the aging
and senile Erronious, has gone on a long journey to locate his
missing children, stolen in infancy by pirates.
Throw in a cast of courtesans and soldiers that rivals anything
in comic musical theatre and you have all you need for an evening
filled with music and laughs. See “Forum” March 4, 5,
6, 11, 12 and 13 at 8:00 p.m. and at 2:00 p.m. on March 7.
The last show of the season is the powerful, multiple prize winning
drama, Doubt. Winner of the Tony award in 2005, the Pulitzer for
drama and the New York Drama Critic’s Circle award for Best
Play, Doubt is set in the 1960s in a Catholic school in the Bronx,
where a nun grows suspicious when a priest begins taking what
she views as too much interest in the life of a young male student.
Is she being over-protective—or not protective enough?
Told through the eyes of the four-character cast, Doubt’s
quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority
and will leave you filled with the show’s name sake when
you try to figure out the truth behind the story you have been
told.
Doubt is directed by J.R. Spaulding, Jr. and runs April 23, 24,
29 and 30 and at 8:00 p.m. on May 1. There is a matinee performance
at 2:00 p.m. on April 27.
Tickets for individual shows are available at Gust Asp in downtown
Escanaba three weeks before the opening of a production. Tickets
are $10 for a straight show and $12 for the musical. Season tickets
are $40. Information on ordering season tickets or becoming theatre
patrons or angels may be obtained by calling Lynn or Jim Soderberg
at 789-7468.
—Kathy LeDuc
Tales of logging, murder
and change
Spring Drive: A North Country Tale
By Chuck Guilford
Spring Drive is a fictional retelling of a true story about a
murder, or perhaps depending on one’s point of view, justice
or injustice being carried out, in Menominee in 1881. Although
the book is not long or the plot complex because the author had
to write within the constraints of the historical event, Chuck
Guilford allowed his imagination to flesh out the characters without
altering their actions or the story’s ending. Guilford easily
makes the characters and their motivations believable in this
grisly and complex story of social and moral issues and how they
affect the psychology of the characters.
The title refers to the final log run before the logging season
ends. The McDonald boys are two lumberjacks who come into Menominee
after a winter of logging. They plan to stay just long enough
to collect their pay, get a good night’s sleep and then travel
to Oregon. Frank McDonald is the leader, the wiser one who makes
things happen, while his cousin Ian, often called “Dummy”
by the other loggers, follows him.
The trouble begins when a dispute arises over the loggers getting
paid. After a riot in the street is quelled, the sheriff warns
the McDonald boys to get out of town. They plan to do so after
they pay a visit to the local whorehouse. What they don’t
know is that the man responsible for their pay, Robert Garrison,
whom Frank just assaulted during the riot, feels enormous guilt
for his own recent visit to the whorehouse; he is determined to
close the place down. After a string of unfortunate events, including
the McDonald boys being in the wrong place at the wrong time,
and one of the whores deciding that she is in love with Frank
and wants to go with him to Oregon, violence ensues.
The back cover tells us that the McDonald boys will end up being
lynched, and since the story is well known in Menominee, I’m
not giving away the ending by saying so. Guilford even includes
the gruesome photograph of the McDonald boys hanging by their
necks.
This true historical event is brought alive by Guilford’s
fictional portrayal of the characters, particularly through the
tight, fast-paced dialogue and the psychological portraits of
the inner turmoil that motivates their actions. Each chapter is
told from a different point of view, making the characters’
thoughts come alive for the reader. Even a minor character like
Ruth Garrison becomes real and sympathetic to the reader as she
tries to understand her husband’s behavior; Garrison did
not tell his wife about his visit to the whorehouse. Ruth’s
environment also affects her. Having grown up in Chicago, she
feels Menominee might as well be the end of the earth, and she
wonders, “Could any good come of this half-frozen, half-ravaged
country?”
Menominee is far from a pleasant place in Guilford’s novel.
It has the feel of a rough Wild West town, complete with saloons,
gunfights and a sheriff, who explains to his deputy, “The
law…didn’t care about whorehouse brawls. Not in Menominee.
Unless it was something serious like killing or robbery. Otherwise,
when the law came to a brothel, it came as a guest.”
While Guilford does not spend a great deal of time on description,
he includes enough information to make 1881 Menominee appear very
vivid. My own French-Canadian ancestors would have settled in
Menominee about that year, so I found it interesting to notice
the details, such as Menominee having a Frenchtown, and mention
of places such as Bayshore Street and the Montreal House saloon,
which reflected Guilford’s research into the setting. The
book made me curious to learn more about Menominee during this
time period.
Chuck Guilford is a Michigan native, former professor at Boise
State University in Idaho and the winner of the Western Literature
Association’s Willa Cather Memorial Award. Spring Drive is
his first historical novel set in Upper Michigan. I hope it will
not be his last.
Grand Marais
Grand Marais was compiled by the Grand Marais Historical Society
and published by Arcadia Publishing as part of its “Images
of America” series—Arcadia also has published numerous
books on various Upper Michigan towns, including Marquette, Houghton
and Manistique. For those not familiar with the series, these
are predominantly photograph books with two historical photos
per page and captions of a few lines under each photo. The book
can be read easily in a couple of hours, but it is the more than
200 photographs that one appreciates.
The book tells the history of Grand Marais through the photographs,
from its very beginnings when it was a fishing location for Native
Americans, through its heyday in the mid-1890s when it was a bustling
town of 2,000 inhabitants who made their living through logging
and the railroad. Unlike many similar Upper Michigan towns that
became deserted, when the sawmills and railroad pulled out of
Grand Marais around 1911, the town continued to survive with only
a tenth of its previous population. Those hardy individuals who
decided to remain made a living through commercial fishing, and
in the 1920s, the opening of a state road transformed Grand Marais
into a popular tourist destination.
The book not only is filled with historical photos, but many of
great human interest. One photograph depicts an early 1900s wedding
train hired for newlyweds to take them to Seney so they can embark
on their honeymoon. A chapter about fishing includes net reeds
made into swings for people’s enjoyment. Photos depict winter
roads not being plowed, but rolled by a large roller wagon, and
of course, there are photographs of the famous Pickle Barrel House.
I had often heard of the Pickle Barrel House, and after reading
Grand Marais, I decided it was time to visit. On a pleasant summer
day, I left Marquette with a friend and drove to Grand Marais.
We arrived in time for lunch at the West Bay Diner, where I had
one of the most enormous and delicious sandwiches I’ve ever
tasted. Unfortunately, the West Bay Diner did not make it into
this book, but this diner that looks like an old railroad dining
car is a story in itself considering the owners moved it from
back East. The owner, Ellen Airgood, even showed me a photograph
album including the diner being transported over the Mackinac
Bridge.
Of course, my next stop was the famous Pickle Barrel House, where
I learned more about William Donahey, creator of the Teenie Weenie
comics and his wife, Mary Donahey, another popular author in the
1920s and 1930s. The Pickle Barrel House is charming and not as
small as one might think—the Donaheys spent their summers
living there, and there is a kitchen attached and an upstairs.
This Grand Marais landmark is well worth a visit.
The lightkeeper’s home, the sand dunes and the Sable Falls
also were highlights of my visit. While I was only in Grand Marais
for a few hours, I found friendly and creative people pleased
to have tourists in their town and eager to share their history.
This new book by the Grand Marais Historical Society accurately
depicts the community I visited, and reminds me once again of
the wonderful and diverse experiences to be had throughout Upper
Michigan, both in the past and present, through books and in person.
—Tyler Tichelaar
Editor’s Note: Tichelaar is the author of The Marquette
Trilogy. All books reviewed in this column are available in local
and online bookstores.
Annual Sibelius festival
adopts a jazzy outlook
Classical, jazz and folk musicians from the prestigious Sibelius
Music Academy of Helsinki (Finland) will present three concerts
and a music workshop in the western Upper Peninsula from September
22 to 25 for the eleventh annual Finlandia University Sibelius
Academy Music Festival.
“This year’s festival will be a lot of fun,” said
Kaisa Randolph, festival coordinator. “We are excited to
welcome these varied Finnish musicians to the Upper Peninsula.
I am hoping to see people of all ages with musical interests of
all kinds at this year’s concerts.”
For the most accomplished student-musicians in Finland—and
for musicians around the world—the Sibelius Academy is the
destination for the best and brightest. The prestigious Sibelius
Academy, founded in 1882 and named for Finnish composer Jean Sibelius,
is one of the largest and best regarded music academies in Europe.
The Academy has trained renowned musicians such as Osmo Vänskä,
music director for the Minnesota Orchestra; Jukka-Pekka Saraste,
previous conductor of the Toronto Symphony orchestra; and Esa-Pekka
Salonen, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Duo Räisänen & Parko is a classical music ensemble.
Violinist Viola Räisänen and pianist Maija Parko will
perform at 10:00 a.m. September 23 at W.C. Peterson Auditorium
in Ishpeming., in a concert for the Ishpeming-area community and
public schools, and at 7:00 p.m. on September 25 at the Calumet
Theatre in Calumet. Visit www.maijaviola.com for details.
Folk musicians Anssi Salminen, guitar, and Markus Luomala, accordion,
are Duo Luomala & Salminen. Anssi and Markus are known as
charismatic live performers. Their concerts include modern arrangements
of traditional Finnish fiddle tunes and original compositions.
View their MySpace page and listen to their music at www.myspace.com/luomalasalminen
Anssi and Markus will lead a folk and jazz music workshop from
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on September 22, and will perform a concert
at 7:00 p.m., both at the Finlandia University Finnish American
Heritage Center in Hancock. They also will perform September 23
in Ishpeming, and September 25 at the Calumet Theatre.
The Tuomas Juhani Turunen Trio, a jazz combo, features three young
Helsinki-based musicians. Their music combines the American jazz
tradition and the classical lyricism of European jazz. The trio
features musicians Thomas Juhani Turunen on piano, William Tarvainen
on the upright bass, and Mikko Arlin on drums.
Tuomas, William and Mikko will lead the folk and jazz music workshop
on September 22 in Hancock, and will headline the concert on September
25, at the Calumet Theatre. They also will perform September 23
in Ishpeming. The trio’s repertoire ranges from original
compositions and jazz standards to selected Finnish compositions.
The musicians are looking forward to their visit to Michigan.
While they have performed in multiple European countries, most
of them have never been to the U.S. Festival coordinator Kaisa
Randolph, a Finnish national who moved to the Copper Country in
2008, is excited about hosting the student-musicians.
“I think that when you read more about these musicians, you’ll
realize that you just have to attend these performances!”
Randolph said. “Coordinating these concerts has been a huge
challenge, but when they finally arrive in Hancock, I know that
it will all be worth it.”
Violinist Viola Räisänen loves performing.
“I enjoy the sparkle I get from this moment,” she said.
“And the feeling that I am now in the middle of this amazing
music and an audience, and my purpose is to tell a story with
music—the way I feel and understand it.”
Räisänen said the best rewards after performing are
when she talks with someone who expresses the same things she
feels in a piece of music, or when the music she has played has
made someone think about crucial events.
Maija Parko’s first piano teachers were Hungarian, and she
said she learned a lot from their deep enthusiasm for music. Parko
performs actively in Finland as a soloist and chamber musician.
She also has performed in Hungary, Wales, Denmark, Norway and
Belgium and taught piano for many years.
“My dream would be to keep on performing and giving concerts,
as well as to give piano lessons in a conservatory or music school,”
Parko said.
In the Luomala & Salminen duo, technical skill is combined
with experimentation and strong backgrounds in Finnish folk music.
Their concerts include modern arrangements of traditional Finnish
fiddle tunes and Salminen’s original compositions.
The music of Marcus Luomala varies from modern Finnish experimental
folk music to classical music and avant garde. He has won several
prizes in Finland as a soloist and with his folk rock band Snekka,
and he won the Finnish Golden Accordion competition in 2001.
Anssi Salminen, both a musician and a composer, works extensively
as a freelancer with many top Finnish musicians.
“Music is everywhere!” Salminen said. “It’s
the part of our daily lives, I think, that gives the joy to carry
on when you’re having difficult times. Music is everything
to me.”
Salminen said it’s the power you get from other people that
makes playing with a group so enjoyable. “It’s always
a challenge to mix your own playing style with different kinds
of musicians,” he said. “For example, with this duo,
we have to cope with some very hard technical challenges where
the music is sometimes written for a larger ensemble.”
The Tuomas Juhani Turunen Trio jazz combo combines the deep-rooted
swing rhythmics of the American jazz tradition and the classical
lyricism of European jazz. Turunen said his own compositions are
inspired by his everyday life.
“Whenever something moves me, I try to make a tune out of
that event. My compositions could be read as a musical diary,”
Turunen said. “When a jazz band is playing together, they
are having a musical conversation of sorts. A jazz performance
is partly a conversation between the band and the audience.”
Turunen said a great thing about jazz concerts is that an audience
can cheer and applaud a musician during the performance, unlike
classical performances.
For details, visit www.finlandia.edu or contact Kaisa Randolph
at kaisa.randolph@finlandia.edu or 487-7338.
Concert and workshop tickets may be purchased at North Wind Books
or online at http://finlandia-university.ticketleap.com
Tickets for the Ishpeming concert may also be purchased at Peninsula
Bank in Ishpeming and Range Telecommunications in Marquette.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID. Finlandia
University students and children age 10 and under are free.
—Karen Johnson
Performing Arts Series announces new season
The Upper Peninsula is in for an amazing jolt of eclectic sounds
with the 2009-10 Northern Michigan University International Performing
Arts Series.
The series was created in the 1980s to bring internationally recognized
performers to NMU. Since its creation, many legendary musicians,
dance troupes and other acts have shared their talents with Upper
Peninsula audiences. This year’s lineup will offer a mixture
of music and dance for all ages, with featured artists from Pakistan,
China, Africa, the Caribbean, New Zealand and Japan. All concerts
will be held at 7:30 p.m.
Junoon will be the first performer of the series on October 1
in Kaufman Auditorium. Junoon is South Asia’s most popular
rock band. It produces a diverse mixture of western rock and traditional
Punjabi and Urdu folk melodies to create the original sounds of
Sufi rock. The band’s rhythms also are inspired by music
legends such as Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The New York Times
calls them “the U2 of Pakistan.” Junoon has become an
international phenomenon and truly is a must see. This concert
is in conjunction with the annual Uniting Neighbors in the Experience
of Diversity (UNITED) Conference at NMU.
A new addition to this year’s NMU International Performing
Arts Series is the Arts Midwest World Fest, a global education
and outreach performing arts program designed to provide inspiring
arts enrichment while it instills appreciation for diversity and
encourages acceptance of others and their cultures. The program
will bring two ensembles to Marquette: Beauty and Melody, a women’s
ensemble that evokes the charming and exotic musical heritage
of China; and Hiromatsu Agatsuma, who has honed his craft on a
Japanese traditional instrument since the age of six. Both ensembles
will spend a week in the area and visit school districts in Alger
and Marquette counties. During these visits, they will hold workshops
and outreach activities in the communities, providing an educational
experience of different cultures around the world.
Beauty and Melody will perform on October 23 in Forest Roberts
Theatre. Established in 2001, this ensemble is composed of accomplished
young women in music and dance. The ensemble’s instruments
include the elegant and peaceful sounds of bamboo flutes and windpipes
along with stringed instruments like the ruan and pipa, creating
a mixture of flowing sounds with magnificent strength. The talent
and beauty of this all-female ensemble carries you back to the
classical and folk music of ancient dynasties.
The NMU International Performing Arts Series allows you to journey
back to the ancient Malian Empire in the middle of the fourteenth
century with talking drum and calabash player Baye Kouyaté.
He will perform on November 19, in the Great Lakes Rooms of the
University Center. The wise nature and diverse perspective of
his Malian heritage help to bring out his creative energy. His
performances consist of highly complex polyrhythms fusing traditional
sounds of Mali with influences such as jazz, reggae and Latin
grooves. Afropop.org claims “Baye’s performances are
highly energized explosions of lightning-fast talking drum solos
backed by an upbeat dance band.”
You’ll have to put on your dancing shoes for Alex Torres
y su Orquesta on February 4, in the Great Lakes Rooms. Alex Torres
and his eleven-piece orchestra excite their audiences with original,
molten-hot Salsa, Merengue, Cha-cha, Bomba, Plena and Latin Jazz
from an Afro-Caribbean repertoire. This ensemble is full of dynamic
sound, which creates an irresistible urge to rise out of your
seat and dance. Karl S. Brunig from The Chronicle states, “I
have never seen an act that so accurately reflects a culture’s
music and yet targets a mainstream audience, combining education
with exciting entertainment.” The group has received many
awards, including the New England Cultural Arts Preservation Award,
the New York State Music Achievement Award and the Governor’s
Excellence in Arts Award. This performance is being sponsored
in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
On March 11, the NMU International Performing Arts Series is excited
to offer a fun-filled performance by the Kahurangi Maori Dance
Theatre of New Zealand. The troupe was formed in 1983 to provide
cultural, recreational and educational employment for the graduates
of Takitimu Performing Arts School. The Kahurangi Maori Dance
Theatre of New Zealand brings to life the ancient legacies and
customs of the Maori people. This culturally rich show features
tribal music, dance and hand-crafted traditional costumes. This
performance provides a great experience with both audience participation
and a touch of humor.
Arts Midwest World Fest performer Hiromatsu Agatsuma will present
a concert on April 17, at Kaufman Auditorium. He has long practiced
Tsugaru-Shamisen, an ancient Japanese style of music using a three-string,
banjo-like instrument. But Agatsuma infuses the traditional sound
of the shamisen with blues, rock, folk and a little funk. Agatsuma’s
intense sound brings people together, bridging disparate cultures
and helps to find common ground between them. He is breaking new
boundaries with his fresh approach to the shamisen and introducing
this traditional instrument to new listeners everywhere.
The upcoming NMU International Performing Arts Series is funded
by the Office of the Provost and sponsored in part by the Ramada
Inn, Arts Midwest, the U.S. Department of Education, 3M, Metropolitan
Life and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For single events, tickets for the events are $5 for students
and $6 at the door. Tickets for NMU faculty and staff and seniors
sixty and older are $13 in advance and $15 at the door. Tickets
for the general public are $18 in advance and $20 at the door.
Season tickets are $30 for students, $75 for NMU faculty and staff
and seniors sixty and older, and $100 for the general public.
To purchase tickets, visit www.nmu.edu/tickets or call 227-1032.
You also can purchase them in person at the Superior Dome, Forest
Roberts Theatre, TCF Bank (University Center) and the Vista Theater
in Negaunee.
For details, call Daniel Truckey at 227-1219 or e-mail dtruckey@nmu.edu
—Ricci Ittner
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