We Don’t Need a Band

Viewers so loved the NBC’s show The Sing-Off— where a cappella groups compete to be picked as the best — that the network brought the show back a year after it had been cancelled. The Sing-Off is hosted by 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey with judges Ben Folds, Jewel, and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men. It features a cappella groups from all over the country who sing their hearts out onstage, usually performing recent or classic chart-topping songs, in the hopes of being crowned show champion and winning a recording contract and $100,000.

It’s all a lot of fun, but hearing the groups perform live offers a whole different experience. This live tour of The Sing-Off is the first of its kind for the show, and its first for Milwaukee. Audiences will have the opportunity to watch the winning group from season 4, Home Free, a country group from Minneapolis. In addition, finalist groups The Filharmonic, VoicePlay and The Fannin Family will also take the stage. The show will feature favorite performances from the season, individual sets from each act, new group numbers and Ultimate Sing-Off battles that will have the crowd singing and dancing in their seats.

“The tour will be a unique experience for fans of the show to get up close and personal with their favorite groups and experience the magic of a cappella live,” said president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment, Paul Telegdy.

The Pabst Theater: The Sing-Off Live Tour: A Night of A Cappella, Thursday March 20 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $35, available online or call (414) 286-3663. 

Music

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 March 21-23 at the Marcus Center. Tickets range from $22 to $82, available online or call (414) 291-7605.

Concord Chamber Orchestra: Spades Saturday March 22 at St. Matthew Evangelical Church at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18, $12 for seniors and students, available online.

Italian Community Center: Cure for Cabin Fever Series presents Tom Anthony Group Thursday March 20 at 6:30 p.m. Free admission and parking for guests.

Mitchell Park Conservatory (The Domes) “Music Under Glass” series presents Jake Paul Band, 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 20. Tickets are $6.50, $5 for seniors/students.

Waukesha Choral Union: Creation Sunday March 23 at Carroll University’s Shattuck Auditorium at 3 p.m. Admission is free.

Wisconsin Conservatory of Music presents We Six Jazz Sextet’s All Our Own Thursday, March 20 at Helen Bader Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, $15 for students.  

Turner Hall Ballroom: Siegel-Schwall Band with special guest Greg Koch and the Tone Controls Saturday March 22. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $25, available online or call (414) 286-3663.

Visual Art

Thomas Muller’s “Orange” at Portrait Society Gallery

Portrait Society: Ceramic exhibition March 20-April 12. Opening reception Thursday, March 20 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Comedy

The Riverside Theater: Cheech & Chong and WAR Thursday, March 20. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets range from $49.50 to $59.50, available online or call (414) 286-3663.

The Pabst Theater: Jim Jefferies Day Streaming, Saturday March 22. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $35, available online or call (414) 286-3663.

Special Events

Milwaukee Art Museum: MAM After Dark: WTF?! Friday, March 21 from 6 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $14 at the door, $9 plus fees in advance. Free for museum members. Join at the door and get in free with a friend.

Uprooted Theatre: The Sunset Limited, through March 23

Milwaukee Repertory Theater: An Iliad, through March 23. For review of show see https://urbanmilwaukeedial.com/2014/03/03/theater-i-sing-a-song-of-sadness/

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts: The Price of Freedom and Yoshinaga Kawamura: Exploration of Material, through March 22.

Ongoing

Skylight Music Theatre: Hydrogen Jukebox, through March 30

Waukesha Civic Theatre: Curtains, through March 30

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts: Featured Member Exhibition: Paul Matzner, through April 5

Sunset Playhouse: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, through April 6

Wisconsin Lutheran College Schlueter Art Gallery: Pfister Artist in Residence Exhibition, through April 11

Museum of Wisconsin Art:  Beth Lipman: Precarious Possessions, through April 13

Tory Folliard Gallery: “The Figure in Clay” and “Concerning Nature,” through April 19

Fireside Dinner Theatre: Mary Poppins, through April 20

Milwaukee Repertory Theater: Ain’t Misbehavin’, through May 18

Charles Allis Art Museum: FORWARD: A Survey of Wisconsin Art Now, through June 29