[title of show]

I honestly can't think of a better description for the concept behind [title of show], the newest production by Who Wants Cake? at the Ringwald, than the scene in Spaceballs in which the characters (incongruously) pop in the VHS of Spaceballs to spy on what happens in a future scene. But first, they cue up the very part of the movie in which they're watching the movie, forming a picture-in-picture of sorts. One character tries to explain it, and both in real time and on the monitor, he says, "You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now."

In the same vein, creators Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell decided to write a musical about writing a musical, starring them and two of their friends (as themselves). So if they say something while writing the show ("Even this?"), if they take their shirts off while preparing for the show (yep), it goes in the show. The original draft was finished in three weeks for submission to a festival. It was a big hit there, and again off-Broadway, and finally enjoyed a run on Broadway, all the while starring them and two of their friends (as themselves). That's not just the history of the musical, that is the musical. Everything that happens now, is happening now.

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The Marvelous Wonderettes

For all its promotional material about cotton candy–colored dresses, the Gem Theatre's production of The Marvelous Wonderettes is actually quite analogous to a confection. The dancing and singing are a treat to see and hear, thanks to a talented cast and the best set I've ever seen at the Gem. The music is catchy and familiar, and jokes and sight gags keep the audience sated. However, underneath this sweet soundtrack lurk empty calories in the form of a wafer-thin premise.

Obviously the plot is not the selling point, but what keeps the show from being billed as a concert is the story and characters, so these elements invite dissection. The story — what little exists — is lame. Creator Roger Bean introduces us to the dimwitted one (why, yes, she is a blonde), the vampy attention hog, the bossy mousy one (glasses? check), and...the Ethel. Each girl is distinguished by her dress color better than she is by her name: just call 'em Blue, Pink, Orange, and Green. The four are high school frenemies and song leaders, class of '58. Their lives revolve around boys, and when those boys hurt their feelings, they sing away their troubles as the prom-night entertainment while dressed in matching pastel crinoline. At the school's ten-year reunion, the same boys have hurt their feelings again, so the estranged group sings some more, this time wearing marabou-trimmed, neon-bright costumes ostensibly stolen from a drag production of Mamma Mia! In a frankly weird choice, the lighter '50s songs of the first act are chosen to reflect the girls' state of mind, a sort of jukebox-confessional style, whereas in the second act, their very lives have been railroaded to fit the popular songs of the '60s; they've lived each number they sing, word for word. Early mentions of a "Judy" and a "Johnny" lead to the literal scenario described in "It's My Party," a stab at cleverness that makes the women's second-act woes seem like creepily foretold conclusions.

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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

As with so many theaters of southeast and mid-Michigan, the Encore Musical Theatre Company is like a temple of ingenuity, with homemade aisles and risers and essentially no wings (on one side of the stage is an actual brick wall). The company's mission is to bring Broadway talent to its stage to work with local professionals, yet this small space has an intimacy an actual Broadway stage could never reach. For a group that produces only musicals, which traditionally feature huge casts and splashy production elements, this introduces myriad opportunities and challenges, both of which are well met by The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

However long, this is one literal title: behold, the silver anniversary of a county spelling bee (the winner of which qualifies for the national championship in Washington, DC). Aside from a few flashback/fantasies and one literal deus ex machina, the play's uninterrupted nearly two hours are confined to a school gymnasium until the winner is declared. However, with credit to librettist/composer William Finn and writer Rachel Sheinkin, the clearly laid-out structure of the competition is wisely broken up by dances, songs, rants, prayers, slow motion, a juice break, and even a little flirting; the show bounces and bops without straying too far from the story, and the time flies.

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The Last Five Years

Musicals get away with being fluffy. A man and a woman singing prettily at each other — the bar is set low. This is why the heartfelt The Last Five Years from Magenta Giraffe Theatre will soar past everyone's expectations. The small-scale piece by writer/composer Jason Robert Brown, sharply conceived and beautifully executed, delivers such exquisite sadness that your heart may explode.

The musical has just two characters, Cathy (Anne Marie Damman) and Jamie (Kevin Young); their romantic relationship has an expiration date. When the play opens, Cathy bitterly sings that it's over, yet in Jamie's reality, they've just met. From the opposite ends of their five years together, they bookend each other: he moves forward in time; she goes back. Although they occasionally share the stage, the characters mostly occupy it alone for alternating songs; there is relatively little dialogue, but a variety of  ballads and some up-tempo, rock-adjacent numbers. The concept allows us to primarily see each character feeling alone within a relationship, revealing well-earned undercurrents of pain and second guessing, and making the few points of connection all the more bittersweet. Director Frannie Shepherd-Bates takes excruciating care to develop the individuals as well as the couple, constructing believable love and loss — simultaneously — between two people who almost never address each other. The staging weaves the two actors together without being intrusive, there are no lazy choices, and everything clicks.

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A Forbidden Broadway Christmas

A Forbidden Broadway Christmas springs from the Forbidden Broadway mold; if the original was successful, why shouldn't they make money off a Christmas-themed sequel? It's the very kind of business decision creator/writer Gerard Alessandrini would have mocked, had he not made it himself. In its third year at the Gem Theatre, this bastard child of the Broadway machine features spectacular voices paying homage to the genre, even as it bites back with literal and figurative Grinchiness.

The bread and butter of this cabaret-style production is the tunes, favorites spanning decades of Broadway history. Some songs are paired with their respective shows, as in an extended Les Miserables medley, but more unexpected and creative choices are revealed when, for example, Gypsy's "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" is reworded to address the industry's recent puppetry fad. Topics range from Christmas to the economy to more specific barbs aimed at Broadway's producers and divas, but you don't have to know who Cameron Mackintosh is (trust me, I didn't) to appreciate a song about the merchandising craze. Over the course of its two hours, the show does run a few concepts into the ground — yes, okay, Disney is everywhere! — but overall there is a decent balance of Christmas-specific parody along with the Broadway commentary, plus a hefty dose of riotous celebrity impressions for impressions' sake. The material is strong enough that I didn't mind the repetition, and each number offers something that the others don't.

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