2023 marked a bittersweet year for Greater Lansing theater

Father Time is about to spank the first cries out of Baby New Year 2024, which means it’s time to celebrate some highlights of the 2023 theater scene in Greater Lansing.

Lansing-area theater companies never cease to amaze with their creativity and innovation. Williamston Theatre saved its latest holiday musical, “Murder for Two: Holiday Edition,” from near disaster when lead actress Andrea Wollenberg became ill and lost her voice. After canceling three shows, the brilliant minds behind the scenes came up with a solution: the theater’s executive director, Emily Sutton-Smith, did the vocal performances, while Wollenberg walked the part and played piano. This arrangement was only needed for two days, and I’m a little bummed that Wollenberg was back in top form by the time I saw the show because it would have been fascinating to watch the Sutton-Smith/Wollenberg synthesis.

I missed another innovative show that my fellow reviewer Chelsea Lake Roberts enjoyed, Lansing Community College’s Climate Change Theatre Action festival performances. The six short plays were accompanied by student poetry and informational booths about climate change. While it’s easy to become pessimistic about the future, collective actions like this give us hope that the next generation is passionate about positive change.

I realize it’s not all about me, but since I’m the one writing this wrap-up, back to me and my 2023 theater experiences. As mentioned in my review of Peppermint Creek Theatre Co.’s production of “The Prom,” I didn’t go to my own prom. I have a feeling that it wouldn’t have been as memorable as the musical was. The story was hilarious, timely and tender, and the cast was magnificent. Lizabeth Desmet was sweetly vulnerable as Emma Nolan, a lesbian who just wanted to dance at prom with the woman she loved, and Amanda DeKatch was dazzling as diva Dee Dee Allen, who used the controversy of the prom to try to save her career.

This year will be remembered as a standout for Peppermint Creek for another reason: after couch-surfing for 20 seasons, it finally found a permanent home at the new Stage One Performing Arts Center in Sycamore Creek Church’s Eastwood campus. Ixion Theatre Ensemble will launch its first production at the venue in March 2024. Stage One is poised to become the perfect location in Lansing for dinner-and-a-show date nights.

My not-so-guiltiest pleasure of the season was Riverwalk Theatre’s production of “The Rocky Horror Show.” I love drag in all forms, falling hard the first time I saw Tim Curry’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film version. Interactive screenings of the film are fun, but seeing an interactive live performance is a whole new level of debauched entertainment. Riverwalk innovated by presenting two casts so that it could accommodate evening and midnight shows. This also gave many more local actors what I suspect is, among performers, the opportunity of a lifetime to be in this campiest-of-all-camp production.Special kudos go out to the Phantoms, who served as background characters, set changers, singers and dancers and performed in every show. They worked their hot patooties off.

For all the joy celebrated in 2023, it was a bittersweet year in that we lost two key members of the Lansing theater community. Former City Pulse reviewer Tom Helma passed away in November. He was a passionate supporter of the arts, and our group of reviewers and Pulsars judges met regularly for many years to discuss and debate the good, the bad and the bold in terms of theater productions. Helma always appreciated productions that highlighted civil rights and racial equity, as well as those that reflected deeply on the human condition, as he did in his own social media musings.

The theater community was devastated to learn of local legend Ken Beachler’s passing in June. Beachler was a driving force for the arts in Lansing, his imprint too big to summarize here, but take a moment to revisit his obituary to be inspired by how much of a positive impact one person can make on a community. As befits a legend, Beachler passed with a glass of wine while listening to classical music.