An update on arts and entertainment options across the region.
Northwest Indiana
by John Cain
South Shore Arts presents “Motown vs. Chi-Town: The Indiana Connection,” November 13 through January 29, 2017. More than an exhibit, “Motown vs. Chi-Town” is a cultural event and historical survey from the Chicago Blues Museum that traces the Chicago music scene of the 1950s through 1970s. Featured installations will include rare photographic images, music and movie footage, as well as artifacts and memorabilia that recall the artistic and cultural output of musicians, comedians and entertainers. For more information call 219/836-1839 or go to www.southshoreartsonline.org.
The 2016-17 concert season marks the Northwest Indiana Symphony's 75th anniversary. This year's Holiday Pops concert on December 8 is sure to be a sellout. The audience can sing along to beloved carols and keep an eye out for visitors from the North Pole. Plum Grove Strings, back by popular demand, will perform. The Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus will also be featured. For more information call 219/836-0525 or go to www.nisorchestra.org.
All the ingredients that made the musical “Annie” so successful return in its sequel, “Annie Warbucks,” with an added old-fashioned romance thrown in for good measure! The action at Theatre at the Center picks up where “Annie” left off, when Child Welfare Commissioner Harriet Doyle arrives on the scene to inform Daddy Warbucks that he must marry in 60 days to give Annie a proper mother. Directed and choreographed by Jeff Award-winner Linda Fortunato, the show runs November 17 through December 18. For more information call 219/836-3255 or go to www.theatreatthecenter.com.
Greater South Bend
by Jack Walton
School is back in session and so is another season of eclectic programming at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Highlights include classical pianist Ann Schein playing works by Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin on November 13 and fiddler Eileen Ivers with a holiday program on November 27. The prestigious Elias String Quartet performs pieces from Purcell, Bartok and Beethoven at DPAC on January 29, and Notre Dame's artists-in-residence, the innovative percussion ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, gives a concert on February 4. See the full schedule at performingarts.nd.edu.
The History Museum in South Bend has brought in a public-television junkie's dream. “Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times,” is a traveling exhibit featuring costumes and other treasures from the BBC/Masterpiece Theater series, “Downton Abbey.” The exhibit opens October 15 and runs through January 8. Find out more at historymuseumsb.org.
Elkhart Civic Theatre is presenting a variety of shows on its schedule, including a musical: the beloved holiday favorite “Irving Berlin's White Christmas,” running November 4-19. A farce set way out in the golden wild, wild West is the comedy for this season: Billy St. John's “Holder Posey, the Felonious Photographer” runs January 20-22. A couple of staged readings round out the offerings, with John Patrick Shanley's “Doubt: a Parable” on December 13 and Donald Margulies' “Collected Stories” on February 14. For more information, go to elkhartcivictheatre.org.
The Morris Performing Arts Center in downtown South Bend is jam-packed with gigs these days. Concerts include Vince Gill on November 20, Mannheim Steamroller on November 29 and Straight No Chaser on December 15. Television comes to the stage in three shows, beginning with “The Price is Right Live” on November 12. Two kids' shows follow, with “Paw Patrol Live” on December 28 and “Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Live” on February 15. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: the Musical” runs in two shows on November 26, and Rodgers and Hammerstein's “Cinderella” comes to the Morris January 20-21. The South Bend Symphony Orchestra has concerts on November 5, December 17-18, January 16, January 28 and February 11. Find further details at morriscenter.org.
