An update on arts and entertainment options across the region
Summer entertainment abounds throughout Northwest Indiana. Here is just a sample.
“The Drowsy Chaperone” is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical, featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another. With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record, the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life as the man looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theater producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. Catch this delightful production at Memorial Opera House, Valparaiso, through May 7. More information is available by calling 219-548-9137 or at memorialoperahouse.com.
Footlight Players in Michigan City presents the Lerner & Loewe classic, “Brigadoon,” June 2-18. Two Americans on holiday in Scotland stumble upon a magical village, untouched by the modern world, that rises out of the mist once every 100 years, where one of them falls for a beautiful village lass. While “Brigadoon” may at first glance seem locked in a mood of postwar optimism, on deeper inspection, it reveals intriguingly darker undercurrents. The score includes several great songs from Broadway’s Golden Age of musicals, while revealing ambivalence about the durability of love. Will our smitten hero choose to stay in this enchanted land or return home? Call 219-874-4035 or visit footlightplayers.org for more information.
Musical entertainment comes alive when the Northwest Indiana Symphony presents this year’s South Shore Summer Music Festival of free concerts for family, friends and neighbors to enjoy in the great outdoors. There’s something for everyone, with the orchestra featuring light classical and patriotic music, as well as music from Broadway and film. This year’s concerts, sponsored by Strack & VanTil and Chase, will be performed in Cedar Lake on July 22, Crown Point on July 29, Griffith on August 5, Hammond on August 11 and Schererville on August 12. Additional concerts presented by the Porter County Community Foundation and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore will be presented on August 2 and 4, respectively. The public is invited to come early, bring lawn chairs and blankets, relax and enjoy the music. Learn more at 219-836-0525 or nisorchestra.org.
Visit the South Shore Arts Regional Arts Calendar at SouthShoreArtsOnline.org for more information on current exhibits, concerts, plays, and other arts events. Tune in to Lakeshore Public Radio, 89.1 FM, for “Eye on the Arts” interviews with area artists and arts providers every Monday morning at 8:45am or watch the new expanded “Eye” on Lakeshore PTV, every first Friday at 7pm.
