Freaky theater, cinematic chamber music

Music

The Milwaukee Symphony will take a breather this week, as the Milwaukee Ballet‘s Esmeralda moves into Marcus Center Uihlein Hall Thursday through Sunday. But the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra League will throw a big fashion fundraiser, Style In the City, Wednesday evening. Details and links here.

Chamber Music Milwaukee, an intriguing mixed-ensemble series put on by the UWM music department, launches on home ground at the UWM Zelazo Center Monday, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1. (That’s a change from prior years, when CMM was always on Thursday.) Tickets are $17, $12 for seniors,  and $10 for UWM employees and students. Todd Levy and Gregory Flint direct the series, which this time around will focus on concert music John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Erich Korngold and Malcolm Arnold, composers best known for their film scores. Details here.

Theater

Can a lonely Ringmaster find love in Youngblood Theatre’s “Freakshow”?

Will the jaded Ringmaster, a broken man, find love with the Woman with No Arms and No Legs? Found out at Youngblood Theatre’s production of Freakshow, by Carson Kreitzer. Jason Economus directs this tale of a disintegrating traveling show at the turn of the 20th century. It opens at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, in an unconventional space, the Lincoln Storage Warehouse, 2018 S. First St., and runs through Nov. 20. Tickets are $15. Details and links here.

Larry Shue’s The Foreigner, one of the Milwaukee Rep’s all-time hit comedies, still has legs. Soulstice Theater will open its version at the Marian Center in St. Francis at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29. Tickets are $15 and $12; Thursday is pay-what-you-can preview night. The Foreigner runs through Nov. 13. Details and links here.

The Rep: Laurel and Hardy and My Name Is Asher Lev, both through Nov. 14.
In Tandem: The Art of Murder, through Nov. 7.
First Stage: Peter Pan and Wendy, through Nov. 14.
Sunset Playhouse: You Can’t Get There from Here, through Nov. 7.

Last Chance:

Alchemist Theater: Murder Castle closes Oct. 30.
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre: Main-Travelled Roads closes Oct. 31.

TCD feature stories coming this week on: vioinist Ilana Setapen’s Oct. 31 recital; the Milwaukee Ballet’s Esmeralda (opens Thursday); and the Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s Thursday premiere of Fortuna the Timebender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom. (I am not making that up; the composer/librettist of the operetta, Jason Powell, made it up.)