360 Main Street previews ‘Einstein’s Dreams’

Lisa Purchase Kelly has a two-part advance story (I and II) on world premiere of Einstein’s Dreams at 360 Main Street. . . . Song cycle by Leo Najar, Randall Williams opens two-day run 8 pm Saturday, Bijou Orchestra, State Theatre, Bay City. . . . . Janet Martineau reviews Popovich Comedy Pet Theatre at Midland Center for the Arts . . . . and Ruthless: The Musical at SVSU . . . . Martineau says the play “is two-hours of campiness personified aimed at child stars, show business and massive egos. . . . ” Janet also interviews former Saginaw Art Museum executive director Sheila Redman Hoffman, now starring in a movie shot in upstate New York . . . . Jeff Vande Zande has a new look and added links at his blog.

Verve Pipe at State Theatre March 12

Verve Pipe, Avery Set at Bay City’s State Theatre 7:30 pm March 12 . . . . Tix $15, $20 (under 18 $10) . . . . .Children’s show at 3 pm. . . . Regional student art on display at Saginaw Art Museum through Feb. 27 . . . . All-female musical Ruthless opens Thursday at SVSU . . . . Tix $15 (students, seniors $10). . . . Three Men And a Tenor at Temple Theatre 3 pm March 13 . . . . Presented by Saginaw Valley Concert Association . . . . Tix $20, $25 . . . . . At 360 Main Street, Kara Gheldof says FX boxing drama Lights Out isn’t getting the respect it deserves.

Verdi ‘Requiem’ tonight in Flint

Flint Symphony, Festival Chorus perform Verdi Requiem tonight, 8 pm . . . . Enrique Diemecke conducts . . . . .Cello-piano recital 4 pm March 6 at Art Reach, downtown Mount Pleasant . . . . Features CMU faculty, cellist James Fiste, pianist Adrienne Wiley . . . . Tix $6 . . . . Next in Art Reach’s Wellspring literary series, poet/food writer Matthew Gavin Frank . . . . 7 pm March 14 . . . . Frank teaches at Grand Valley, is widely published . . . . Saginaw’s Pit & Balcony stages Michael and Susan Parker’s Sex Please, We’re Sixty . . . . opens March 11, for two weekends . . . . Creative 360 plans Dinner-With-the-Artist Soiree with Midland painter Kathleen Sullivan April 8.

LaBute’s ‘Fat Pig’ opens Feb. 23 at CMU

Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig opens Feb. 23, CMU University Theatre . . . . Jill Taft-Kaufman directs. . . . . Emily Hendren reviews Matt Bell’s How They Were Found at 360 Main Street . . . . Hemlock native’s short stories “capture the essence of the human spirit and cast into it the unexpected lightness of the impossible,” Hendren writes . . . . Also at 360 Main, Ryan Wilson looks back at Broadcast News, rereleased recently on DVD . . . . Wilson says film “says more about the ethics of television journalism than any film before or after it.” . . . . Chinese film Last Train Home shows at Midland Center for the Arts Feb. 25-27.

Karoly reviews new ‘After the Dust’ release

Peter Karoly reviews new CD by Midland-based After the Dust at 360 Main Street . . . .”I popped the CD in the car player and started home for what I anticipated to be a leisurely drive,” Karoly writes; . . . “what I got was my hair parted down the middle and an extra 20 miles added to my speedometer.”. . . . Band members are Drew Brady, Chris Crawford, Korey Gillespie, Travis Evans, Chad Winters . . . . Kris Winterton reviews 5 Browns concert at MCFTA for Midland Daily News . . . . Janet Martineau reviews Saturday’s Saginaw Bay Orchestra concert at her blog . . . . Sean Drysdale interviews Saginaw poet Gina Myers for a “Poodcast,” Myers reports on her blog.

Martineau reviews ‘Vagina Monologues’

Janet Martineau reviews (with photos) Creative 360 production of Vagina Monologues . . . . The actors’ body English “completes the serving . . . and perhaps is the most important ingredient of the show,” Martineau writes . . . She also reports on Midland Center Stage Theatre’s Urinetown reaping 10 awards in regional competition. . . . Martineau has also (wisely, Three-Eyed Fish thinks) changed the name of her great blog to Janet’s Journals from the needlessly self-deprecating Martineau’s Mindless Meanderings. . . . American Salvage author Bonnie Jo Campbell reads at CMU Park Library’s Baber Room, 8 p.m. Thursday . . . . Salvage was a finalist for National Book Award in 2009 . . . . Midland Music Society Chorale programs David Fanshawe’s African Sanctus for 3 pm March 13, Midland Center for the Arts Auditorium . . . Tix $15 ($10 students) . . . . Jim Hohmeyer conducts.

Bay City Players’ 2011-12 season

Bay City Players announces 2011-12 season . . . . Musical 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee . . . . Michigan playwright Ron Bernas’ A Little Murder Never Hurt Anyone . . . . John Cariani’s Almost, Maine . . . . Arthur Miller’s All My Sons . . . . Musical Drowsy Chaperone . . . . Bijou Orchestra presents world premiere, Einstein’s Dreams, song cycle by Randall Williams, with special guest Alan Lightman, author of novel on which the cycle is based. . . . . Now open at Flint’s Buckham Gallery: Rasterize . . . . exhibition of work by Sarawut Chutiwongpeti (Bangkok, Thailand – installation); Michelle Harris (Ferndale, – video, sound, sculpture); Michael D. Melet (Flint, – mixed media, drawing); Christopher J. Troutman (Vincennes, Ind. – drawing). . . . Canceled: Scheduled Feb. 13 concert by CMU Orchestra.

New art exhibit opens Feb. 14 at SVSU

Opening Feb. 14 at SVSU University Art Gallery, photos by Kesha Bruce, Scott Youngstedt, paintings by Mike Mosher . . . . Exhibit titled (Re) Calling and (Re) Telling . . . . Coming up at the gallery in March, selected paintings and works by Midland’s Larry Butcher . . . . Heather Sellers reads her poetry at 7 pm Feb. 15, Founders Hall, SVSU, part of Voices in the Valley series. . . . Ryan Wilson reviews The Fighter at 360 Main Street . . . . “Since family conflict is the center of the story,” Wilson writes, “at its best The Fighter feels less about boxing and more like a Eugene O’Neil drama for the lower class.” . . . . Roger Bryant reviews Midland Symphony Orchestra concert for Midland Daily News.

Apter, Herman Feb. 14 at Art Reach

Reading Feb. 14 at Art Reach Wellspring series, translators Ronnie Apter, Mark Herman . . . . Janet Martineau interviews Denyse Clayton on upcoming Vagina Monologues at Creative 360 . . . . Dinner theater presentation starts at 8 pm Feb. 11 and 12 . . . . C.P. Chay interviews Flint-based artist Amanda Simons at 360 Main Street . . . . On the walls at Espresso Milano in Downtown Midland: art by Don and Shirley Rulf . . . . Dorothy Moll was guest organist Sunday at Midland UCC . . . chose works by J.S. Bach, Norman Warren, David N. Johnson . . . Ongoing at CMU University Art Gallery, Graphic Protest: Works by Dylan Miner, Allyn Guerra, inspired by the Mexican print artist Jose Guadalupe Posada dealing with political protest and commentary. . . . . Grammy winner jazz saxophonist Bob Mintzer plays at CMU School of Music 8 pm Friday.

Modern choral music in concert Sunday

CMU Chamber Singers, Midland Camerata Singers in joint concert 2 p.m. Sunday, Staples Family Concert Hall . . . . Nina Nash-Roberston, Jim Hohmeyer conduct 20th-, 21st-century choral music . . . . Ed Carney interviews Michigan jazz bassist Paul Keller ahead of his orchestra’s Thursday gig at Temple Theatre . . . . Read the interview at 360 Main Street . . . . My poems “Canning Peaches” and “Rustling Brick” published on-line by Clapboard House . . . . Also in the current issue, poems by CMU MA candidate and Temenos poetry editor Joe Kane.