Adult night at the science center, a Broadway showdown and more shows to see in metro Detroit

There are tons of arts options in metro Detroit this weekend, from theater to all genres of music, a triumphant Holocaust survival journey and even a grown-and-sexy night at a museum many mistakenly believe is just for children. Here are some of the finest options.

The lost rhapsody

The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit and the Detroit Jewish Film Festival will present “The Lost Rhapsody: A World War II Survival Story and Musical Legacy” on Saturday, Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 15. The program includes David Hoffert’s acclaimed documentary film “The Rhapsody,” about composer and Holocaust survivor Leo Spellman. At age 98, Spellman set out on a riveting and emotional journey toward artistic liberation; the film will be followed by a live performance of Spellman’s 24-minute symphonic masterpiece, “Rhapsody 1939-1945.” “Rhapsody” was lost and forgotten for over 50 years, and has never before been paired with the film. It will be performed by the Michigan State University Symphony, conducted by Octavio Más-Arocas, Associate Professor of Music, Director of Orchestras at Michigan State University.

Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. performance will be held at East Lansing's Fairchild Theater, and will open with a pre-talk with the film’s producers, Paul and Brenda Hoffert, and Amy Simon, William and Audrey Farber Family Endowed Chair in Holocaust Studies and European Jewish History and also MSU’s Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel.

Fairchild Theater, 542 Auditorium Rd., East Lansing. 517-355-5340. Tickets $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and free for students and those under age 18.

Sunday’s 2:15 p.m. performance will be held at West Bloomfield’s Berman Center for the Performing Arts, and will include a pre-talk by Simon and conclude with a talkback with the Hofferts moderated by Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of The Zekelman Holocaust Center.

Berman Center for the Performing Arts, 6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield. 248-406-6677. www.theberman.org. Tickets $18.

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A night at the museum

The Michigan Science Center in Midtown Detroit will host an adults-only night Friday, Oct. 13 with “After Dark: Friday the 13th.” Ages 21 and up are invited to immerse in an eerie atmosphere where science meets the supernatural, including a “Stranger Things” laser show, alchemically inspired cocktails, music, and more, including access to Mi-Sci’s new “LEGO Towers of Tomorrow” exhibit. The kid-free event runs from 6 to 11 p.m., and costumes are encouraged but not necessary.

Michigan Science Center, 5020 John R St., Detroit. 313-577-8400. www.mi-sci.org. Tickets $48.

A classic stage play

Downtown Northville’s Tipping Point Theatre presents Alfred Uhry’s timeless “Driving Miss Daisy” through Oct. 29. The Pulitzer-winning drama chronicles the 25-year relationship between wealthy, elderly, sharp-tongued Daisy Wertham and Hoke Coleburn, the man hired to drive her after she demolishes yet another car. Despite their mutual differences, they grow ever closer and more dependent on each other as the South enters a new era.

Tipping Point Theatre, 361 E. Cady St., Northville. 248-347-0003. www.tippingpointtheatre.com. Tickets $39.

Classical masters

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Jader Bignamini will conduct the DSO and pianist Simon Trpčeski through three pieces by Carl Maria von Weber, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Johannes Brahms Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. The London Telegraph described Trpčeski as a “fusion of mature interpretation and youthful passion.” Weber’s fiery “Overture to Der Freischütz” will be followed by Rachmaninoff’s first piano concerto, composed in his teens and revised later in live. The concert will conclude with Brahms’ hard-driving First Symphony, a work it took over 20 years for the composer to complete.

Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-576-5111. www.dso.org. Tickets starting at $24.

A jazzy double bill

Friday night, the DSO also offers up two distinctive jazz combos in one experience, led by bassist Endea Owens and drummer Makaya McCraven. Owens and her band The Cookout will make their DSO Paradise Jazz Series debut. Once a member of the DSO’s Civic Youth Ensembles of Detroit, the rising star is now seen and heard by millions as a house band member on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Having “quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality,” (The New York Times) Makaya McCraven explores new sounds with Detroit’s Urban Art Orchestra, performing new project “In These Times.” Among the other talented players onstage will be vibraphonist Joel Ross, tenor saxophonist De’Sean Jones, harpist Brandee Younger and trumpeter Kris Johnson.

The CUBE at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-576-5111. www.dso.org. Tickets starting at $19.

Celebrating American classical composers

Saturday at 8 p.m., Chamber Music Detroit will present the Pacifica Quartet. They’ll perform one of Beethoven’s late masterpieces for string quartet and three works by American masters, including a new work by composer James Lee III, written for the quartet and Metropolitan Opera soprano Karen Slack under a commission by Carnegie Hall, Baltimore’s Shriver Hall, Chamber Music Cincinnati, and Chamber Music Detroit.

Seligman Performing Arts Center, 22305 W. 13 Mile Rd., Beverly Hills. 313-335-3300. www.chambermusicdetroit.org. Tickets starting at $30, or watch online for $12.50.

Sunday, soprano Karen Slack will be featured in her own solo showcase, “Of Thee I Sing! Songs of Love and Justice.” The program was conceived during the turbulent summer of 2020 and is comprised of songs focusing on the healing powers of justice and love. The program will include material from composers Clayton White, Undine Smith Moore, Ricky Ian Gordon, Scott Gendel, H. Leslie Adams, Jake Heggie, and Adolphus Hailstork.

Varner Recital Hall - Oakland University, 371 Varner Dr., Rochester. 313-335-3300. www.chambermusicdetroit.org. Tickets starting at $30, or watch online for $12.50.

A Broadway showdown

Two of Broadway’s biggest, most versatile voices will come together for a friendly battle royale to decide who has the greatest vocal prowess when Cabaret313 presents “Big, Bigger, Biggest. Farah Alvin has six Broadway shows under her belt, and Ryan Knowles is the New York Times-acclaimed star of Broadway’s “The Lightning Thief.” The show’s producer, Scott Siegel, has produced approximately 500 major Broadway-style concerts in New York and around the world. There will be two performances, at 6:30 and 8:45 p.m.

The CUBE at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-405-5061. www.cabaret313.org. Tickets starting at $25.

Straight-ahead jazz horn

Highly accomplished flugelhorn player (it’s like a softer trumpet) Dmiti Matheny will play Detroit jazz club Cliff Bell's Friday through Sunday, with shows at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. He'll be joined by Jordan VanHemert (saxophones), Lisa Sung (piano) and Tom Knific (bass). Jeff Shoup will serve as drummer on Friday, with Sean Dobbins stepping in on Saturday and Sunday.

Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543. www.cliffbells.com. Tickets $25.

Classical bassoon

Conrad Cornelison is the first new principal bassoonist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since the early 1970s. Friday evening, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings will present Cornelison, playing a program including works by Amy Beach, Robert Schumann, Reinhold Gliere, Jean Francaix and Felix Mendelssohn. The 7:30 p.m. concert will take place at Birmingham’s Hagopian World of Rugs.

Hagopian World of Rugs, 850 S. Old Woodward Ave., Birmingham. 248-559-2095. www.detroitchamberwinds.org. Tickets $30.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Science Center hosts adult night for Friday the 13th