Calendar

Every Sat. & Tues. Runners of all abilities invited to join a tempo (specifically paced) run of 5–7 miles (Tues.) or a 6-mile or more supported run (Sat.) with directional signs and water stops. Rain or shine. 8 a.m. (Sat.) & 6:30 p.m. (Tues.), PR Run Club, 326 W. Liberty, 769–5016. First two runs free; $3/run or $120 (students, $100) yearly membership thereafter. Prrunclub.com.

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Every Fri.–Sun. Three different audiovisual planetarium shows suitable for all ages. Did an Asteroid Really Kill the Dinosaurs? (11:30 a.m.) looks at cosmic collisions across the solar system including the 6-mile-wide asteroid that hit the earth 66 million years ago. The Sky Tonight (12:30 & 2:30 p.m.) is an exploration of the current night sky, with tips on how to find the cardinal directions, constellations, and planets on your own. Living in Balance (1:30 p.m.) explores native Anishinaabe stories of constellations and moons. Various times, U-M MNH, 1105 North University. $8 at the door. Limited capacity. 764–0478. 

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Fathom Events. 973–8424 (Ann Arbor 20), 316–5500 (Emagine). Tickets $11.50–$12.50 (except as noted) in advance at fathomevents.com/events and at the door. Ann Arbor 20 (4100 Carpenter) & Emagine (1335 E. Michigan Ave., Saline), various times.

Apr. 1 & 5: “Falstaff” Live (Sat.) & prerecorded (Wed.) broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Verdi’s comic masterpiece, a brilliantly balanced blend of bawdy humor and lyric beauty. Adapted from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor, with a few additions from Henry IV, the story finds Shakespeare’s larger-than-life rogue wooing 2 married women for money while his own daughters steal kisses behind his back. The music, one of Verdi’s most bewitching scores, is sung in Italian, with English supertitles. 12:30 p.m. (Sat.) & 1 p.m. (Wed., Ann Arbor 20 only). 

Apr. 2-4 & 6: “The Journey: A Music Special from Andrea Bocelli” (Gaetano Morbioli & Paolo Sodi, 2023). Spiritual documentary that follows world-renowned tenor Bocelli and his wife Veronica as they travel through beautiful Italian terrain on horseback to complete parts of the Via Francigena—a historical pilgrimage in which Christians journey to Rome to worship at grand cathedrals and visit revered burial sites of saints and apostles. 4 & 7 p.m. 

Apr. 12 & 13: “Beautiful Disaster” (Roger Kumble, 2023). College romance about a clean-cut freshman girl who loses a bet and has to live with a bad-boy brawler for a month. 7 p.m. 

Apr. 15 & 19: “Der Rosenkavalier” Live (Sat.) & prerecorded (Wed.) broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Richard Straus’s 1911 comic opera, a send-up of courtly love about an aging princess whose young lover falls for the daughter of a rich aristocrat. Noon. (Wed., Ann Arbor 20 only). 

Apr. 16 & 20: “The Big Lebowski” (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1998). 25th anniversary screening of this beloved comedy starring Jeff Bridges as an L.A. slacker who’s mistaken for a namesake who then commissions him to ransom the latter’s kidnapped trophy wife. 4 p.m. (Sun.) & 7 p.m. (Thurs.).

Apr. 18: “Mirando al Cielo” (Antonio Peláez, 2023). Historical drama about a 14-year-old boy who takes up arms against the Mexican government in the 1920’s Cristero Rebellion. Captured, he is taken to a village where his own godfather is the magistrate who must decide his punishment. Spanish, subtitles. 7 p.m. 

Apr. 22 & 24: “Carol Burnett: A Celebration” (Mike Trinklein, 2023). This tribute to the prolific TV comedian, one of the 1st women to host a prime time variety show, features clips, memories, and interviews with Carl Reiner, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, Tina Fey, Phyllis Diller, Barbara Eden, Jim Nabors, and more. 2 p.m. (Sat.) and 4 & 7 p.m. (Mon.). 

Apr. 23 & 27: “Spirited Away: Live on Stage” Screening of Tony-winning director John Caird’s 2022 stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s dazzling Oscar-winning animated fantasy about a young girl who discovers a secret world of strange spirits and sorcery. Features dazzling sets, captivating musical numbers, and wondrous puppets of beloved characters. Japanese, subtitles. 4 p.m. (Sun.) & 7 p.m. (Thurs.).

Apr. 29 & May 3: “Champion” Live (Sat.) & prerecorded (Wed.) broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of acclaimed contemporary composer Terence Blanchard’s 2021 opera about a young boxer who rises from obscurity to become a world champion, and his older self, still haunted by the ghosts of his past. 1 p.m. (Wed., Ann Arbor 20 only).

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Every Fri.–Sun. Three different audiovisual planetarium shows suitable for all ages. Did an Asteroid Really Kill the Dinosaurs? (11:30 a.m.) looks at cosmic collisions across the solar system including the 6-mile-wide asteroid that hit the earth 66 million years ago. The Sky Tonight (12:30 & 2:30 p.m.) is an exploration of the current night sky, with tips on how to find the cardinal directions, constellations, and planets on your own. Living in Balance (1:30 p.m.) explores native Anishinaabe stories of constellations and moons. Various times, U-M MNH, 1105 North University. $8 at the door. Limited capacity. 764–0478. 

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Every Fri.–Sun. Three different audiovisual planetarium shows suitable for all ages. Did an Asteroid Really Kill the Dinosaurs? (11:30 a.m.) looks at cosmic collisions across the solar system including the 6-mile-wide asteroid that hit the earth 66 million years ago. The Sky Tonight (12:30 & 2:30 p.m.) is an exploration of the current night sky, with tips on how to find the cardinal directions, constellations, and planets on your own. Living in Balance (1:30 p.m.) explores native Anishinaabe stories of constellations and moons. Various times, U-M MNH, 1105 North University. $8 at the door. Limited capacity. 764–0478. 

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Apr. 13–16. Cameron Graham directs this accomplished local town-and-gown company in Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operetta spoofing the excesses and moral libertinism of the Pre-Raphaelite movement that swept England in the 1870s. The plot concerns one Reginald Bunthorne, a pretentious aesthete who affects a love of poetry and art simply to impress the local maidens. He succeeds in winning the admiration of all except the refreshingly unsophisticated milkmaid Patience—who happens to be the only woman he’s interested in. Patience remains faithful to her childhood sweetheart, Archibald Grosvenor, who woos her (and irritates Bunthorne) with his sincere, properly Victorian idyllic verses. Meanwhile the local dragoons are dismayed that their girlfriends all pine for Bunthorne. The farce is happily resolved in the end, and all finally get what they deserve. Patience is known mainly for its extravagant comic energy and many memorable tunes, including “The Soldiers of Our Queen” and “In a Doleful Train.” Rebecca Clark as Patience, Matthew Grace as Bunthorne, and Aidan Davis as Grosvenor. 8 p.m. (Thurs.-Sat.) and 2 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.), Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. $30 (seniors, $27; students with ID, $15) in advance at the Michigan League Ticket Office, muto.umich.edu, and at the door. 763–8587.

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Apr. 1, 15, & 29. All invited to participate in and learn about judgment-free improvisation. No experience necessary. 2 p.m., Riverside Arts Center Studio 1, 76 N. Huron St., Ypsilanti. Proof of vaccination required. $5 (spectators, free) in advance via PayPal or Venmo linked from meetup.com/Ypsi-Improv and in cash at the door.

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Every Fri.–Sun. Three different audiovisual planetarium shows suitable for all ages. Did an Asteroid Really Kill the Dinosaurs? (11:30 a.m.) looks at cosmic collisions across the solar system including the 6-mile-wide asteroid that hit the earth 66 million years ago. The Sky Tonight (12:30 & 2:30 p.m.) is an exploration of the current night sky, with tips on how to find the cardinal directions, constellations, and planets on your own. Living in Balance (1:30 p.m.) explores native Anishinaabe stories of constellations and moons. Various times, U-M MNH, 1105 North University. $8 at the door. Limited capacity. 764–0478. 

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All invited to form (or join) teams of 4 to compete in this scavenger hunt throughout town. Followed at 7 p.m. by a post-race party with refreshments, entertainment, a costume and car decorating contest, a raffle, and prizes. 4 p.m., 2100 Commonwealth Blvd. $50 per person in advance at a2amazingrace.com, 975–2500.

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Talk by Ruth Messinger, former president of the American Jewish World Service. Launch event for the Irene Butter Fund for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, which honors Holocaust survivor Butter’s contributions as an educator, peace activist, and humanitarian. Followed by an hors d’oeuvre reception. 4 p.m., Temple Beth Emeth, 2309 Packard. $36 & up (students, $18) in advance only at bit.ly/irenebutterlaunch..

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Apr. 15, 22, & 29. Performances by the company’s improv troupes. Preceded at 6 p.m. by short-form improv games (pay what you can) open to audience members. 8 p.m., Ann Arbor Civic Theatre (A2CT) Studio, 322 W. Ann Street. $15 at the door only. 846-2492, civicimprov.org.

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Mar. 31–Apr. 2  & Apr. 14–16.  EMU drama professor Phil Simmons directs EMU drama students in the 2009 musical based on the 1980 hit feminist film, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and a  book by Patricia Resnick. Music direction by EMU musical theater lecturer R. MacKenzie Lewis. Appropriate for ages 14 and up. 7 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), EMU Legacy Theatre, 124 Judy Sturgis Hill Bldg., Ypsilanti. Tickets $7–18 in advance at emich.ludus.com & at the door. 487–2282.

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Apr. 14–16 & 21–23. Concordia drama professor Amanda Williams and student McKinley Schmitz direct drama students in the 1960 Charles Strouse and Lee Adams Tony Award–winning musical comedy, a thinly veiled take-off on Elvis Presley’s 1957 conscription into the U.S. Army. The show’s many well-known tunes include “Put On a Happy Face,” “One Boy,”  “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” and “Kids.” 7 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Concordia University Kreft Center Black Box Theatre, 4090 Geddes. $20 ($15, students and seniors; free for Concordia students, faculty, and staff). Tickets on sale Mar. 1. Preregistration required at cuaa.edu/events. 995–7537.

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All age 21 & up invited to play low-stakes games of euchre. 7 p.m. (play begins at 7:30 p.m.), Venue, 1919 South Industrial. $3 entry fee (bring quarters for euchre pots). a2skiclub@gmail.com.

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Apr. 13–16. Claire Federhofer directs Huron students in J.D. Atkins’ 2001 comic musical mystery set among the gods and mortals of ancient Greece and centering on inquisitive Pandora. 7 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), HHS Ingram Theater, 2727 Fuller. Tickets $8 (students, staff, & seniors, $6) in advance at huronplayers.weebly.com/links & at the door. 994–2040.

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Apr. 13–15. Cleveland comic, a former Showtime at the Apollo winner, whose warmth lets him get away with almost any subject matter, like the problem with skinny women, and how not to explain sex to your daughters. Preceded by 2 opening acts TBA. Alcohol is served. 7:15 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 9:45 p.m. (Sat.), 212 S. Fourth Ave. $18 (Thurs., $13) reserved seating in advance at etix.com before 6 p.m. the night of the show; $20 (Thurs., $15) general admission at the door. 996–9080.

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Every Fri.–Sun., Mar. 31–Apr. 23. Carla Milarch directs the Michigan premiere of Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage’s 2018 tale of plunder and commerce in which the ghost of a murdered elephant haunts all who profit from its death. It’s a world in which we’re all unsettlingly connected and unconditional virtue is nonexistent. The New York Times reviewer called it a “visually inventive” and “transfixing,” work that “never feels sensational, on the one hand, or pious, on the other.” 7:30 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), 3 p.m. (Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Theatre Nova, 410 W. Huron St. Mask & proof of vaccination required. Tickets $22 ($10 for kids under 17) in advance at theatre-nova.ticketleap.com and (if available) at the door. 635–8450.

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Singer and actress Lauren Fox, assisted by David Yaffe, author of the Mitchell biography Reckless Daughter, tells the tale of Joni Mitchell’s life and career through her songs—and the stories behind them. Although Fox’s voice is significantly lower than Mitchell’s angelic soprano, she “captures Mitchell’s literary depth and musical sensibility with profound empathy and understanding,” according to the New York Times. Fox is backed by guitarist Peter Calo and bassist Jeff Eyrich. 7:30 p.m., Michigan Theater. Tickets $55 and up on reseller sites via michtheater.org/events. 662–0600.

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This popular choir, the oldest of the numerous campus a cappella groups, performs a program of works by Stephen Sondheim, Ondi Yohan Tambunan, and Abbie Betinis. Also, the premiere of U-M composition grad Gala Flagello’s “Watch Me,” as well as David Conte's “Elegy for Matthew,” a piece that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community written in memory of Matthew Shepard on the 25th anniversary of his death. 8 p.m., Hill Auditorium. Tickets $8–$20 in advance at tickets.smtd.umich.edu & at the door. 764–2538.

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Every Thurs.–Sat., Apr. 7–22. Craig Ester directs Christian St. Croix’s award-winning 2021 drama about a gay Black man whose husband dies, leaving him both the owner of a drive-in movie theater and a caregiver to his late husband’s straight, white teenage son. United by their love of classic American monster movies, the 2 have strong bond—until peer pressure and homophobia come between them. Suitable for ages 15 & up (strong language). 8 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.), Stone Chalet Inn, 1917 Washtenaw Ave. Tickets $20 (seniors, $18), in advance at PennySeats.org and (if available) at the door. 926–5346.

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Apr. 13–16. Cameron Graham directs this accomplished local town-and-gown company in Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operetta spoofing the excesses and moral libertinism of the Pre-Raphaelite movement that swept England in the 1870s. The plot concerns one Reginald Bunthorne, a pretentious aesthete who affects a love of poetry and art simply to impress the local maidens. He succeeds in winning the admiration of all except the refreshingly unsophisticated milkmaid Patience—who happens to be the only woman he’s interested in. Patience remains faithful to her childhood sweetheart, Archibald Grosvenor, who woos her (and irritates Bunthorne) with his sincere, properly Victorian idyllic verses. Meanwhile the local dragoons are dismayed that their girlfriends all pine for Bunthorne. The farce is happily resolved in the end, and all finally get what they deserve. Patience is known mainly for its extravagant comic energy and many memorable tunes, including “The Soldiers of Our Queen” and “In a Doleful Train.” Rebecca Clark as Patience, Matthew Grace as Bunthorne, and Aidan Davis as Grosvenor. 8 p.m. (Thurs.-Sat.) and 2 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.), Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. $30 (seniors, $27; students with ID, $15) in advance at the Michigan League Ticket Office, muto.umich.edu, and at the door. 763–8587.

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Apr. 13-16. Devanand Janki directs musical theater students in Jonathan Larson’s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning 1996 musical, based on Puccini’s La Bohème, about an impoverished community of artists in the East Village living under the shadow of AIDS. It features an inventive rock score with intricate choral work and dexterous lyrics. 7:30 p.m. (Thurs.), 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun). Tickets $32–$38 in advance at tickets.smtd.umich.edu and at the door. 764–0583.

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Apr. 14–16. Leah Block directs this U-M student troupe in Stephen Karam’s 2016 Tony-winning one-act play, a “painful comedy … also possibly a horror story,” as the New York Times puts it, about an awkward family Thanksgiving dinner in a run-down Manhattan apartment. 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), U-M Walgreen Drama Center Arthur Miller Theatre, 1226 Murfin, North Campus. Tickets $12 (students, $6) in advance at muto.umich.edu & at the door. 763–1107, rudes.production@umich.edu.

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Apr. 15, 22, & 29. Performances by the company’s improv troupes. Preceded at 6 p.m. by short-form improv games (pay what you can) open to audience members. 8 p.m., Ann Arbor Civic Theatre (A2CT) Studio, 322 W. Ann Street. $15 at the door only. 846-2492, civicimprov.org.

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Apr. 13–15. Cleveland comic, a former Showtime at the Apollo winner, whose warmth lets him get away with almost any subject matter, like the problem with skinny women, and how not to explain sex to your daughters. Preceded by 2 opening acts TBA. Alcohol is served. 7:15 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 9:45 p.m. (Sat.), 212 S. Fourth Ave. $18 (Thurs., $13) reserved seating in advance at etix.com before 6 p.m. the night of the show; $20 (Thurs., $15) general admission at the door. 996–9080.

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