Take a little nostalgia, mix it with Broadway, comedy, music and dance; blend them all with the magic of theater and what do you have - a recipe for another outstanding season at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts.
We are delighted to have you join us for our 29th season. The 2011-2012 Macomb Center season opens Saturday, October 1st with the all-time, most successful love singer of the rock era, Bobby Vinton pulling out all the stops in a full-stage musical gala; the hit television show Masters of Illusion follows, bringing the world’s greatest illusionists together for one incredible evening; BLAST! winner of the 2001 Tony Award for “Best Theatrical Event” hits the stage next in an unique explosion of music and theatre, and the ‘60s are revisited with the legendary pop band Herman’s Hermits and Peter Noone. Other season highlights include Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof and In the Heights, Macbeth performed by the Aquila Theatre Company, A Lettermen Christmas, New Orleans’ own Hot 8 Brass Band, Moscow Festival Ballet performing Cinderella, an evening with the comedic dual Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, Theater of physical comedy: Aga-Boom, the foot-stomping music of Gaelic Storm, the underground dance phenomenon Rhythmic Circus in Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show, The Four Bitchin’ Babes in Diva Nation and much, much more. The Macomb Center offers a wealth of entertainment for everyone – bringing the exceptional close to home.
Over the years the list of star entertainment at Macomb Center reads like a Who's Who in the entertainment industry. In the early years Ray Charles, Buddy Rich, Rick Nelson, Glen Campbell, David Copperfield, Pat Boone, and Ben Vereen all made appearances.Then came shows like Tony Bennett, Johnny Cash, Carol Channing, Marcel Marceau, Johnny Mathis, Kenny Rogers, Itzhak Perlman, Bill Cosby, Roger Whittaker, Willie Nelson, Regis Philbin, Howie Mandel, Tom Jones, Wayne Newton, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach, Alan King, The Everly Brothers, Anne Murray, Paul Anka, Mitzi Gaynor and Debbie Reynolds, Mandy Patinkin, Jeff Daniels, Kathy Griffin, AirSupply and The Irish Rovers.
But the real star is Macomb Center. The Theatre, small by comparison with only 1,271 seats, provides intimacy between performer and patron. Featuring continental seating, customers sit comfortably with plenty of leg room and unobstructed viewing. The stage, with an adjustable acoustic orchestra shell, can accommodate everything from a 100-piece orchestra to the biggest opera assemblage or a spotlight on a soloist.
The Center, designed by TMP Associates, Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, opened November 7, 1982. The route to the concert theatre is designed to be a delightful experience, a set of linked, contrasting spaces. A broad, low-ceiling entry paved with blue Italian tiles expands into a mirrored two-story lobby with a grand staircase. The lofty clerestory hall, which overlooks the campus green, features skylights looming above, which capture solar heat and allow natural lighting and sky space.
Inside the theatre there are 4,000 square feet of "acoustic sculpture" on the theatre's rear and side balcony walls reproduced from four designs by noted Troy artist Glen Michaels. The sculptured tiles are ideal sound dispersers, reflecting sound to the upper balcony seats where their multi-angled surfaces prevent echo from returning to the front of the hall. Reverberation times can be adjusted by the position of acoustic banners and curtains.
The main theatre seats 759 at orchestra level and 512 in a balcony with dramatic sidearms that thrust toward the apron stage, which converts to an orchestra pit for musicals and opera productions. It has been noted that there isn't a bad seat in the house. Indeed the last row of the balcony is only ninety feet from the stage.
Past the foyer, the procession continues into the art gallery. Shows featuring Macomb College students and local artists are featured throughout the season - an extension of the visual arts to enjoy during intermission. Stage II adjoining the concert hall is home to smaller productions. The mini theatre, which seats about two hundred, is a cozy place for Young Concert Artists recitals, dance classes, and frequently as a reception center or rehearsal hall. The Fine Arts facility attached to Macomb Center offers music and art studios, lecture and rehearsal halls, voice and piano practice rooms, a photography studio, and classrooms and faculty offices.