Musicals dominate Lansing area performing arts stages in September

Autumn’s promise of cooler temperatures is paired with the eruption of events at the performing arts organizations of Greater Lansing. From theater to music to poetry, the arts scene has much to offer in the coming month.

Act I: Musicals dominate local stages

Peppermint Creek launched its season last week with “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” with three sold-out shows. They’ll continue to perform at Stage One from Sept 12-15 and 19-22. According to the theater company's website, the Sept. 12-15 and Sept. 19 shows already are sold out.

Directed by Meg Woolsey, it’s a jukebox biopic about Carole King with music by King, Gerry Geffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The story follows the highs and lows of the two couples as they navigate the music industry while the score celebrates their best-known and most-beloved songs.

The Peppermint Creek cast features Caila Conklin as King, Lewis Elson as Goffin, Adam Woolsey as Mann and Xia Skowronek as Weil.

For those who want to travel somewhat farther afield, the Lebowsky Center in Owosso beckons with the perennial favorite, “Annie.” The musical about the spunky orphan taken in by Daddy Warbucks opened last weekend and has four more shows this weekend — 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Over at Michigan State University, the students have wasted no time in launching two productions. The first is an anthology musical called “In Pieces” that will be performed Sept. 19-22 on the Pasant Stage. It’s being put on as part of the New Musical Laboratory, in which a Broadway-caliber director, choreographer and dramaturgs workshop a musical with students to premiere new work.

“In Pieces” brings together six people across three chapters of life, following their romantic journey. With book, music and lyrics by Joey Contreras, the story has global popularity with more than 2 million streams and a growing social media presence.

Starting on Sept. 24 and running through Sept. 29, MSU students will present “P/A,” a devised protest performance inspired by women’s suffrage. The performance will take place in Studio 60, which is in the lower level of the MSU Auditorium.

Williamston Theatre will open the first show of its season — the first original work the theater has ever commissioned. Playwright Terry Guest has created “Thirst,” a sci-fi thriller set in Michigan after an ecological disaster has contaminated all the water in the Great Lakes. Previews are Sept. 12-15 with the full run lasting until Oct. 20. Thursday’s show is “pay-what-you-can.”

Act II: MSU College of Music launches full schedule of musical events

Next Tuesday witnesses the start of the Early Music Series that continues throughout the year. The Sept. 17 concert at 7:30 p.m. in Fairchild Theatre is titled, “Sounds of Sancho’s London” and features the guest ensemble, Les Delices. They’ll highlight works by British composer and abolitionist Charles Ignatius Sancho as well as music by Handel and Geminiani.

The Cleveland ensemble is opening the ninth year of the Taylor Johnston Early Music Series that performs music while providing historic and cultural context to the pieces. The Les Delices ensemble includes baroque oboe, violin, cello and harpsichord.

Tickets are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors and $7 for students and those under 18.

Other upcoming events include:

• Sept. 13, Jazz Swing Dance

• Sept. 15, Ken Cowen, Organ

• Sept. 21, Chamber Winds

• Sept. 23, Musique 21

• Sept. 24, Symphony Band

• Sept. 26, Wind Symphony

• Sept. 27, Symphony Orchestra: The Triumph of Freedom

More information and tickets to the events can be found at https://music.msu.edu/calendar/

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Musicals by Peppermint Creek, Williamston Theatre kick off season