Calendar

Observer Editor

Dec. 5–14. Megan Wright-Jones directs 3 casts of local youth actors in grades 2–12 in a 1-hour version of Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s 2011 musical. The story, based on Roald Dahl’s children’s novel, centers on a precocious 5-year-old girl with the gift of telekinesis who loves reading. New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley called the original Broadway production “a sweet and sharp-witted work.” 6 & 8 p.m. (Dec. 5), noon; 2, 6, & 8 p.m. (Dec. 6); noon & 2 p.m. (Dec. 7); 7 p.m. (Dec. 12); 2 & 7 p.m. (Dec. 13); and noon (Dec. 14). Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St., Ypsi. Tickets $20 in advance at pytmi.square.site & (if available) at the door. (734) 660–2966, pytmi.com.

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Game vs. CMU. The U-M also has home games this month against Purdue (Dec. 7, noon), Akron (Dec. 13, noon), & Oakland (Dec. 21, noon). 7 p.m., Crisler Center. Tickets $8–$12 in advance at mgoblue.com and at the gate. (734) 764–0247.

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Dec. 5–7 & 11–14. NTG founder Kristin Ann Danko directs local actors in her 2019 Hallmark Christmas musical parody, cowritten with local playwright A.M. Dean. It’s about a single woman, about to turn 30, returning home for the holidays to celebrate the engagements of both her sister and her dad. If she can win the affections of a local lad and make it into a triple engagement, she’ll have herself a Christmas for the books. For mature audiences. 7:30 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), The Back Office Studio, 13 N. Washington St., Ypsi. Tickets $20 (students, $12) in advance at ticketstripe.com/manforchristmas and (if available) at the door. [email protected].

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Dec. 4–7. Barbara Day directs local child and adult actors in Peter Bloedel’s archly comic 2011 play, which renders the classic Dickens Christmas story in rhymed couplets, à la Dr. Seuss. Several Seussian characters, like Bed-Headed Fred and Timmy Loo Hoo, even show up, as does Santa, at the very end of the show. 7 p.m. (Thurs. & Fri.) & 2 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.), The Well Church, 211 Willis Rd., Saline. The venue has some stairs. $15 ($12, seniors and kids 17 & under) in advance at our.show/sapaseussifiedchristmascarol or at the door. [email protected], salineareaplayers.com.

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Every Fri.–Sun., Dec. 5–Jan. 4. Mike Sandusky directs Carla Milarch and R. MacKenzie Lewis’s latest seasonal panto comedy, a hip-hop version of the English folktale of Dick Whittington. Loosely based on a lord mayor of London in the late Middle Ages, Whittington rises from poverty to wealth by selling his cat to a rat-infested town. British panto is a genre that blends familiar children’s stories with a bit of vaudeville to create a raucous family entertainment. Theatre Nova’s panto, a popular annual tradition, usually sells out. 7:30 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), 3 p.m. (Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Theatre Nova, 410 W. Huron St. Tickets $32 ($25, seniors; $15, students; $12, age 16 and under) in advance at theatrenova.org & at the door. (734) 635–8450.

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Dec. 4–Jan. 11 (different times). Daniel Cooney directs this local professional theater company in Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, and Jennifer Lee’s 2018 stage musical, itself based on the 2013 animated Disney movie, a loose adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” It tells the story of Queen Elsa of Arendelle, whose self-seclusion in an ice palace prompts her younger sister Anna to attempt to find her, aided by a cast of characters including Olaf the snowman and Kristoff the ice vendor. The musical features numbers like “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “Let It Go.” 7 p.m., Encore, 7714 Ann Arbor St., Dexter. Tickets $44–$65 (17 and under $34) in advance at theencoretheatre.org & at the door. (734) 268–6200.

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Dec. 5–14. Megan Wright-Jones directs 3 casts of local youth actors in grades 2–12 in a 1-hour version of Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s 2011 musical. The story, based on Roald Dahl’s children’s novel, centers on a precocious 5-year-old girl with the gift of telekinesis who loves reading. New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley called the original Broadway production “a sweet and sharp-witted work.” 6 & 8 p.m. (Dec. 5), noon; 2, 6, & 8 p.m. (Dec. 6); noon & 2 p.m. (Dec. 7); 7 p.m. (Dec. 12); 2 & 7 p.m. (Dec. 13); and noon (Dec. 14). Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St., Ypsi. Tickets $20 in advance at pytmi.square.site & (if available) at the door. (734) 660–2966, pytmi.com.

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Every Wed.–Sun., Sept. 25–Dec. 21. Rhiannon Ragland directs Purple Rose founder Jeff Daniels’ 2005 comedy about two very different sisters who get themselves into an outrageous pickle over an old high school boyfriend, a chaotic church social, and a secret family recipe for Christmas sausage. Adult language and subject matter. 7:30 p.m. (Thurs.), 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), 3 p.m. (Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.). Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park St., Chelsea. Tickets $30–$50 in advance at purplerosetheatre.org & by phone, and (if available) at the door. Discounts available for students, seniors, teachers, military personnel, and groups. (734) 433–7673. 

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Dec. 5–7. This U-M student musical theater troupe performs the landmark 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, a sentimental love story set in Oklahoma Territory on the eve of statehood. The show’s many well-known songs include “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No,” “People Will Say We’re in Love,” “Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” and the rousing title chorus. The production incorporates many of the introspective elements of the show’s acclaimed 2019 Broadway revival, an “Oklahoma! for an era in which longstanding American legacies are being examined with newly skeptical eyes,” according to New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley. 7 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) and 2 p.m. (Sun.), Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin, North Campus. Tickets $20 (students, $17) in advance at muto.umich.edu & at the door. (734) 763–1107, [email protected].

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Dec. 4-7. This accomplished town-and-gown company performs Gilbert & Sullivan’s 1889 comic operetta about 2 handsome gondoliers whose romances with Venetian peasant girls are interrupted when a misunderstanding makes them kings for a day. Accidental bigamy, an arranged royal marriage, and switched-at-birth babies add twists to the lighthearted musical satire. 8 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.), Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University. Tickets $30 (seniors, $27; students with ID, $10) in advance at the Michigan League Ticket Office, muto.umich.edu, and at the door. (734) 763–8587.

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Every Thurs.–Sun. (except Nov. 27), Nov. 21–Dec. 7. Kelley Rawls directs local actors in Larissa FastHorse’s 2018 satirical comedy about a troupe of terminally woke theater artists who scramble to create a grade school pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month. 8 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat., except Dec. 5), 10 p.m. (Fri., Dec. 5), and 2 p.m. (Sun.), Cahoots, 206 E. Huron St. Tickets $20 (students, $15; kids 12 & under, $14; seniors, $18) in advance at pennyseats.org and (if available) at the door. (734) 926-5346, [email protected].

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Dec. 6 & 7. Scott Hanoian directs the 175-voice Choral Union and members of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s beloved oratorio. The soloists, all established professionals with national or international reputations, are soprano Sherezade Panthaki, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenor Miles Mykkanen, and bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca. The Choral Union Messiah, featuring a thunderous sing-along of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” has been an Ann Arbor tradition ever since organist (and U-M president) Henry Frieze led an impromptu community chorus in the spring of 1879, a performance that led to the formation of both the Choral Union and the UMS. 7:30 p.m. (Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Hill Auditorium. Tickets $17–$48 (students, $15–$20) in advance at tickets.ums.org, at the Michigan League, & by phone, and (if available) at the door. (734) 764–2538.

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Acclaimed stand-up comic from South Carolina known for his disarming delivery and improvisational style, with unpredictable jokes and stories on topics that segue rapidly through everything from marriage and religion to politics and Hollywood. 4 & 7 p.m., Blind Pig, 208 S. First St. $47 in advance at blindpigmusic.com and (if available) at the door. (734) 996-8555.

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(734) 973–8424 (Ann Arbor 20), (734) 316–5500 (Emagine). Tickets $12.50 (except as noted) in advance at fathomentertainment.com/events and at the door. Ann Arbor 20 (4100 Carpenter, Ypsi.) & Emagine (1335 E. Michigan Ave., Saline), various times. 

Dec. 7 & 10: “André Rieu’s Christmas Concert.” Concert film featuring old and new Christmas tunes led by this renowned Dutch violinist and conductor. Features dancing, figure skating, and an extensive lineup of musicians. 7 p.m. (Wed.) & 3 p.m. (Sat.). $18.

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Acclaimed stand-up comic from South Carolina known for his disarming delivery and improvisational style, with unpredictable jokes and stories on topics that segue rapidly through everything from marriage and religion to politics and Hollywood. 4 & 7 p.m., Blind Pig, 208 S. First St. $47 in advance at blindpigmusic.com and (if available) at the door. (734) 996-8555.

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