Glengarry Glen Ross

A scene from the Milwaukee Rep’s staging of Glengarry Glen Ross By Tracy Doyle Foul language. Crude behavior. Men being men. In the dark recesses of the underground parking garage, behind the open back doors of a parked van, a group of men bonded, argued, smoked the magic weed and emitted nearly tangible clouds of testosterone. At the same time, four floors above them, on the stage of the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater, an entirely different group of men were ruthlessly trying to claw their way to the top of a fictitious Chicago real estate office. Both clans demonstrated the most primal activities of mankind, yet the group above ground, with their suits and ties and briefcases, may have displayed the more animalistic behaviors. In the Milwaukee Rep’s staging of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, four salesmen resort to desperate measures to succeed in the harried world of real estate. Deception and manipulation are the tools of the trade, and over the course of the play we watch these men devolve in front of our eyes, following their most primal instincts to come out on top. Mamet may be best known for his unique stylization of dialogue; every “er,” “um” and “I …” is written out, and overlapping dialogue reigns supreme. Director Kate Buckley ushered this production to success through mastery of this difficult technique, known affectionately as “Mametspeak.” However, an even greater challenge of producing Glengarry Glen Ross is to create something original and not simply a lower-quality version of the beloved 1992 film version starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin et al. It is tempting to parrot the film’s unforgettable performance, and unfortunately, too many of this evenings’ actors were reminiscent of the cinematic greats. James DeVita as Richard Roma has a quiet, almost Kyle Maclachlan-like energy to him, very boy-next-door. Yet consistently, he would inject near perfect imitations of Pacino into his role. These sharp contrasts to the character he had already established made DeVita’s Roma difficult to follow and believe. A more successful invention of character was created by Peter Silbert, who was challenged to break the “Jack Lemmon” out of his character, Shelly Levene. Although Silbert shares physical and vocal qualities with Lemmon, he was successful in his own right. The monologue in which he describes his unbelievable sale of eight units of property to the Nyborgs was an impressive moment of dramatic clarity; it was impossible to look away from him. Jim Pickering as Dave Moss submitted another notable performance. The play is witty, fast-paced and a lot of fun to watch, although it leaves the audience with a pretty bleak picture of humanity, especially men. Upon leaving the theatre and heading back to the parking garage, we found our pot-smoking, van-dwelling acquaintances from earlier relieving themselves and grunting wildly, assumably having missed the performance all together. Although they were acting like animals, I had to question who the real beasts were. I think Mamet would agree that the answer is the fuckin’ salesmen. […]

Weekend Music Report

Little bits before the Big Day

Video Games Live! at the Riverside Theater

When entertainment industry icon Tommy Tallarico met fellow composer Jack Wall while assigned to collaborate on the video game Evil Dead: Hail to the King back in 2000, the two shared their dream – to bring video game music to a larger audience and bring it into its own as a veritable art form. “In Japan for many years they put on a show, not just a symphonic concert of music but a hybrid of entertainment,” says Tommy Tallarico. Their friendship and partnership developed into Mystical Stone Entertainment, which teamed up with Clear Channel in July 2005 to hold the first major video game music concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The overwhelming response prompted Clear Channel to order up an ill-fated tour, which they soon dropped. That was a big mistake for Clear Channel; it allowed the original team to regain control of the promotion and tone of what is now a famous world tour that played 29 dates last year, including a historic and huge three-day run in Brazil. In 2008 the tour includes 60 dates (in 2009, at least 200), one of which is Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 1. “I get parents coming up to me after the show or emailing me saying, ‘I finally get it now. I get why my kid is into these games – they have these sweeping storylines and graphics and sound’,” says Tallarico. The show has found great success with renowned orchestras internationally after some measure of convincing music directors that the repertoire was more than just boops and beeps – music directors who might not buy the argument that the theme music from Pac-Man (which debuted stateside 28 years ago) is as much a part of the music lexicon as Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter. “The biggest challenge is convincing people,” states Tallarico. “Gamers get it. But it’s a small industry in the symphony world and so one concert master will tell another about it and the word of mouth spread.” But behemoths like the National Symphony in Washington D.C. or London Symphony Orchestra aside, most city symphonies have been looking for ways to bring younger audiences into the concert hall seats. With Video Games Live, each show’s set list is different, and the program is always trying out new gimmicks on stage. Tallarico and Wall’s team create an event that takes on the air of Cirque du Soleil or the Blue Man Group at times with full-scale Tron cycles, big screen displays coordinated with the music and audience participation or giveaways. Milwaukee’s performance will be tailored around the Pabst venue’s capabilities. Each city is emailed the sheet music and sent mp3s showing how the themes from Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, Gauntlet and Earthworm Jim will be translated for epic scale with horns, strings and percussion. Some arrangements are symphonic interpretations while other more modern fare like Advent Rising (which Tallarico composed) and Halo already have their compositions set from the original. The response even from non-video game […]

Twelfth Night

Alexis McGuinness and Molly Rhode in Milwaukee Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Milwaukee Shakespeare’s impressively staged production of Twelfth Night only played for seven performances, a briefly realized event manifesting just long enough to register a reaction before its disappearance. Shakespeare’s quintessential gender-bending comedy came to the stage of the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center with a distinctly 20th century feel. Noele Stollmack’s set vaguely suggested a financial institution designed by Ikea, with minimalist stairs, platforms and bars. It provided a remarkable background for the production, and with some exquisite lighting, also by Stollmack, this production of Twelfth Night was a real pleasure to watch. The costuming by Mara Blumenfeld paired perfectly with the set, and with simple sports coats, secret service outfits, loud pinstripes and lace trim, the costuming promoted a greater period ambiguity. Brian J. Gill played a solidly charismatic Orsino, Duke of Illyria, who employs the services of a young man named Cesario – actually a disguised woman named Viola, played here by Alexis McGuinness. Viola loves Orsino, but is unable to show her love through the disguise, and unwittingly, Orsino dispatches Viola to woo Olivia — a countess played with subtlety by Molly Rhode. The plan backfires when Olivia falls for Cesario, who is of course only following the directions of the man she loves. The production fails to capture the full intricacies of the complex dynamic between Olivia, Viola and Orsino, but other aspects of the play more than made up the difference. It was a bit unexpected, for instance, to see the central action of the play upstaged by Mark H. Dold in the role of Olivia’s servant Malvolio. Dold, who has worked extensively in television, made Malvolio’s every detail sparkle with wit early on in the play. He carries himself with remarkable poise — a servant with exceptional aspirations who secretly pines for the woman he serves. His performance exemplified this production’s fascinating unevenness: the meat of the play seemed lost in exquisitely captured details from the periphery of the story. A considerably distracting subplot featured Viola’s brother Sebastian (Kevin Rich) and his good friend Antonio (Todd Denning). Rich was brilliant in the relatively marginal role, and Denning’s interaction with him carried a great deal of weight. There’s a bond between the two men that gets lost in the action of the play – perhaps because Shakespeare never found direct resolution between the characters. Under the direction of Paula Suozzi, that relationship received a well-executed resolution here that brilliantly shows a happy ending for some isn’t a happy ending for everyone. VS Milwaukee Shakespeare’s production of Twelfth Night closed February 3. Its production of Cymbeline opens March 22 for a considerably longer run at the Broadway Theatre Center Studio Theatre. For tickets or more info call 414-2917800 or visit Milwaukee Shakes online.

The line forms here

The line: the beginning of possibilities, the basis of all art, begins at Inova/Kenilworth in an adventurous and well-balanced exhibit, which I reviewed in two prior features this week (Read part one and part two). If this prelude to spring forecasts what’s on the Kenilworth horizon, those who moan about our “dismal” art scene are perhaps looking in all the wrong places. It wasn’t too long ago that if you yearned to view art, the choices were narrow: museums and a few privately owned galleries, plus exhibitions at universities. Now that we have a tide of technology, a tsunami of art experience is readily available via the internet. Locals can peruse Susceptible to Images, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel art critic Mary Louise Schumacher’s varied offerings, MKE, OnMilwaukee and any number of blogs and logs encouraging virtual space wanderers. There are seductive sites with excellent hi-res images and mountains of information, so why leave your cave when you can tour plopped in front of a computer, maybe with some wine and cheese? Parking space abounds, and you can Google and YouTube forever in your underwear. In effect, your home becomes your gallery, devoid of overzealous gallerists rushing forth to gush, “Isn’t this gorgeous!” Online touring makes me anxious and a nagging fear lurks, neurotic perhaps, that eventually the hi-tech will white-out the experience of standing in front of a work of art and exercising the brain. The Inova/Kenilworth show is a reminder of everything computer content lacks. Yes, the irony is that you are reading this at vitalsourcemag.com. It’s my hope that it will prod you into action. During my third and final visit, I duly noted that 160 souls attended the opening reception, and I spoke at length with a 21-year-old UWM senior, Nicholas Teeple. He just started as a “gallery guard” and is enrolled in DIVAS, the university’s digital imaging, video, animation and sound program. He hasn’t taken any courses in drawing, and remarked that the computer “doesn’t lend itself to drawing and perhaps makes it less relevant, I guess.” I asked him how he intended to use a degree from a program he believes is challenging, rewarding and “full of potential.” He is particularly interested in time-based media, in the “blossoming” video and mash-up culture, and down the road may get into performance and installation art. We talked about the anxiety/paranoia content of the exhibition. “By the way,” he asked, “just who are you writing this for?” For a moment, I thought maybe he was paranoid. “Fear-mongering is just another form of control,” he said as we discussed the show’s overall theme. “It’s a form of control embraced by the media.” Claire Pentecost, one of the two artists I was there to review, has 14 pieces in the exhibition, ranging in size from 64” x 52” unframed giclee prints to framed 10”x 8” palladium prints. She teaches drawing, critical theory and interdisciplinary seminars and the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and refers to her photographs as “extracted;” […]

Weekly Milwaukee Development Bookmarks

Articles from the past week covering development in Milwaukee. JS Online: Coast Guard station set for demolition JS Online: MU gets $25 million gift UWM fund-raising campaign reaches $125 million | WTN Marquette’s College of Engineering to receive another $25 million donation – Small Business Times Developer plans $75M project near MATC – The Business Journal of Milwaukee: JS Online: Development plan advances JS Online: $5.2 million expansion could get bond help

Broadway vs Broadway Street

View From My Room Originally uploaded by compujeramey OnMilwaukee.com’s Bobby Tanzilo took a peak at the story behind the naming of Broadway. The street, which a long long time ago used to be known as Main Street, technically has no suffix. Broadway, one of downtown Milwaukee’s main arteries, is not legally followed by Street, Avenue, or Boulevard, it is simply Broadway. Someone in the city marketing department could spend an entire day trying to correct errors on the web where it’s incorrectly listed, but is it worth it? Maybe, maybe not. The fact that the name Broadway stands alone is something that once you know, you don’t forget, and that you aren’t any better or worse off for actually knowing. Consider this my public service announcement of the month, use your new knowledge to impress your friends or seduce your spouse.

Cat Power

Everyone loved her 15 seconds of “How Can I Tell You” in that diamonds commercial. That’s just too bad, since a full-length version isn’t on Jukebox, Chan Marshall’s second CD of cover songs since 2000. Backed by the Dirty Delta Blues band, Marshall keeps things sparse as usual and swaths the songs with her signature rasp. Also typical is her inclusion of another Dylan tune, “I Believe in You.” By now, Marshall has the icon’s panache down pat. “A Song to Bobby,” the only new song on the disc, even details a humbled admiration of the songwriter. Homage is one reason to cover a song, but are there others? That thought recurs when song choice seems mismatched (“Aretha, Sing One For Me”) and when justice isn’t paid to the classics. “Theme from New York, New York,” Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man,” and Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” — all songs of rebellion and conviction originally — are neutered by Marshall’s lethargy. (“Silver Stallion,” however, canters along appropriately in this sleepy state.) “Metal Heart,” written during a restless night in 1999 for Cat Power’s Moon Pix and revised for Jukebox, invigorates the album; it’s the strongest and most expressive of the twelve tracks. It is her own, and she sings it like she owns it — an important dynamic missing from the rest. There isn’t a jukebox on earth that could compile a better A-to-Z of music appreciation, but this record has nothing to say. Use your Jukebox quarters for laundry instead.

Allison Moorer

Elegance: if there could ever be such a thing as a one-word review, that would be it for Mockingbird. On her sixth studio recording Allison Moorer set out to record a selection of songs that she hoped would make listeners treasure, encourage and pay attention to the female songwriter. It’s a fairly ambitious undertaking, and with Mockingbird, a resounding success. Allison puts her stamp on virtually every song, spanning an impressive spectrum. Moorer and producer Buddy Miller bring overdriven drums, an acoustic guitar and some subtly delayed piano to life on “Ring of Fire,” re-imagining the entire context of this important lyric while losing none of its strength. From there, she moves easily onto “Dancing Barefoot,” the Patti Smith gem, polishing it to a gleam. There’s a bit of rocking on this one: The Joni Mitchell favorite “Both Sides Now” is gorgeous and emotive under Moorer’s own blue light. But she saves the best for last: her version of Cat Power’s “Where Is My Love” is stunning and powerful. It’s haunting. It’s captivating. And it’s so real. Moorer doesn’t just play these songs, she appreciates them in earnest. Music of this magnitude elevates its listeners. I could’ve typed the first word of this review 100 times and left it at that. It’s just that good.

The Beat goes on

In a music career that has come full circle, Dave Wakeling has been on the right path from the very beginning. As a young man, he and his collaborators realized there was something magical in the “feet, hearts and mind” formula that came to define his group The English Beat. At the band’s apex they were surrounded by the royalty of the UK punk-era ska scene: The Selecter, Madness, The Specials and Elvis Costello. Originally dubbed The Beat, the band added the word “English” to their name stateside to avoid confusion with American power pop group the Paul Collins Beat. Signing to then-prestigious I.R.S. Records in 1981, Wakeling’s band found a measure of success in America with three solid albums and a string of wildly infectious dance floor-friendly singles. But before the roller-coaster ride really took off, Wakeling and his Birmingham buddies had already learned some valuable lessons. “We used to run parties with punk and ska DJs,” he said. “Each DJ alone would tire the dancers out, but the mix of punk and reggae equaled a full night of energy. What if you could get the both into the same songs? It was our punk-y reggae party. Boy George, members of UB40, the Au Pairs and Dexy’s Midnight Runners all came to the parties. Birmingham was going through one of its musical renaissances.” Falling under the spell of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath in their early 20s, Wakeling and Andy Cox (English Beat guitarist) both “were fierce music fans” and “very lucky in terms of time and geography.” Live shows were a priority, and Wakeling reels off a list of defining music moments that includes two Bob Marley concerts, seeing Van Morrison, the death of Tim Buckley and seeing the Buzzcocks. “The songs were catchy, two-and-a-half or three minutes long. [It was] the same for the Undertones and Wire, who used the hook and the art-form of the pop song.” The music made a lasting impression on them, but ultimately The Beat made their mark with their own hybrid of ska, punk, soul, reggae and Nigerian highlife. According to Wakeling, “After you’d been dancing awhile the lyrics hit even harder – it was like your mind was more open. We paired the beat with lyrics that were somewhat heavy. Life is ambiguous. It’s not all happy or sad.” In a lineup notable for both its racial integration and near mash-up style influences, the original six member band consisted of Dave Wakeling on vocals and guitar, Andy Cox on guitar, David Steele on bass, Everett Morton on drums, Ranking Roger on vocals and toasting and ska sax legend Papa Saxa. The Beat sound was born, but it needed to be heard. “Our bass player, said ‘One gig is worth a thousand rehearsals.’” Armed with a half dozen original tunes and a few covers, the band knocked out its first gig, opening for the Dum Dum Boys. It was shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the band was […]

Drive-By Truckers

A departed band member can make the advent of a new album nerve-wracking rather than exciting for an ardent fan, but the absence of Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers’ singer of seven years, brings out a return to roots, as well as new directions. Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, the band’s eighth album, features contributions from band members who normally play the wallflower (bassist Shonna Tucker penned three shimmering beauties) paired with crunchier contributions from Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and John Neff, with ‘icing on the cake’ keyboards by legendary Spooner Oldham. Southern rock had a glaring exterior when Lynyrd Skynyrd brought it to the mainstream, but today, one regularly hears the signature layered guitars, pedal steel, lazy drums and pretty keys channeling crusty stories of booze, drugs and hardships of alt-country on commercial radio. On Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, the Truckers juxtapose their personal brand of southern rock against established tradition. Their soft songs shine bright as the lights on a country wedding dance floor, while the gritty, raucous snarlers make the slow dancers shake their sleepy feet. Stories paste this album’s nineteen songs together. Cooley’s country-washed songs add humor with “Lisa’s Birthday” and “Bob,” the tale of a man whose mom is the only one “she lets call him Robert” and who “has always had more dogs than he ever had friends.” Hood pens staunch southern rock with such vigor and drama it draws goose bumps. “The Man I Shot” is chilling, a strong contrast to Tucker’s gentle writing and Cooley’s ‘aw, shucks’ style. Hood’s slower ballads veer into Eagles territory at times, which can either please – in the case of the amazing “Daddy Needs a Drink,” made stellar by heart-wrenching pedal steel – or annoy, as on “The Home Front,” which is lite rock at best. Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is an album to be traveled through, soaking in all the odd twists and turns, corners and dips. There are some bumpy spots, but the unexpected beauty will sink the listener like a stone, and the buoyant humor will lift the mood and ease the listener into reality, as the best stories often do.