Highlights from 10/28 to 11/3

Bww-ah-hah-haaah. It’s All Hallows Eve week, and the fine performing artists of Milwaukee and the great beyond have plenty of shows for you. Look forward to a good, old-fashioned thriller from the Waukesha Civic Theater, Festival City’s costumed pajama jamboree, a Polish band that summons old spirits and a haunted bash at the Brumder Mansion B&B.

Publicity still of Alan Atwood, courtesy Acacia Theatre's website

Normal: A Family Musical of Hope and Survival, a special event at In Tandem Theatre, 10/29
The Tenth Street Theatre is hosting this one-night event, based on a true story. It’s a musical, about “a family’s struggle to come to terms with their teenage daughter’s eating disorder.” The award-winning show also addresses issues of body image and self esteem. No reservations are needed, and prices are pay-what-you-can. For more information and directions, visit the IN TANDEM website.

Traveling Light, Acacia Theatre at Concordia’s Todd Wehr Auditorium, 10/30 to 11/8
Acacia’s founder, Alan Atwood, returns to Acacia’s stage after more than 20 years to present a contemporary retelling of the Gospel of Mark. Atwood portrays familiar characters as modern-day people, including Peter the longshoreman, Thomas the college radical and Levi the IRS agent. For more information and tickets, visit ACACIA THEATRE or call 414-744-5995.

And Then There Was None, the WCT at Margaret Brate Bryant Civic Theater, now through 11/8
Agatha Christie’s masterpiece is the latest to be staged by the Waukesha Civic actors. In this story, ten strangers arrive on a remote island near England only to be murdered one by one. For ticket information, visit the WAUKESHA CIVIC THEATRE website or call 262-547-0708.

Halloween Pajama Jamboree, Festival City Orchestra at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 10/28 FREE
The musicians will be dressed up, and they want to see the children in their best costumes as well. The concert will feature Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, Hayman’s Pops Hoedown, Rossini’s Overture to Italian Girl in Algiers, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from Sleeping Beauty and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 3. For more information, visit FESTIVAL CITY or call 414-963-9067.

Russ Lorenson, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in the Kuttemperoor Auditorium, 10/28
Jazz-inspired vocalist Russ Lorenson explores the Great American Songbook in songs written within the last twenty years by composers such as Harry Connick, Jr., Michael Feinstein and Peter Cincotti. Visit the WILSON CENTER site or call 262-781-9520 for more information.

Homemade Jamz Blues Band, Cedarburg Cultural Center, 10/29

Photo, courtesy the band's website

This 8 p.m. concert will be the Milwaukee-area premiere of the Perry siblings that include Ryan (age 16-vocals, guitars), Kyle (age 13-bass) and Taya (age 9-drums, back-up vocals). The talented, award-winning trio sings themes of “betrayal, love, and hard times as if they’ve lived a life rich in strife.” For more information, visit the CCC site or call 262-375-3676.

Bluebeard’s Castle, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at Uihlein Hall, 10/30 to 10/31

Dale Chihuly. Set designs for Bluebeard's Castle, Seattle Symphony, 2007. Photo by Terry Rishel.

This special holiday-themed concert features Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle. What makes the show very special is the slow reveal of Dale Chihuly’s glassworks sculptures themed to the score. Edo de Waart leads the MSO with guest artists Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet (soprano), Andrea Silvestrelli (baritone – Duke Bluebeard) and Dominique Serrand (the narrator). For more information, visit the MSO or call 414-291-7605.

Warsaw Village Band, Alverno Presents at the Pitman Theatre, 10/30
“Remember Babylon Circus? How about 17 Hippies? Warsaw Village Band makes music haunted by the ghosts of the old country. (They travel throughout Poland to discover and record older musicians playing ancient songs …). Their music summons primal earth-dwelling spirits into the 21st century for a sound that is intense, driven, virtuosic.” To watch a music video from the band or purchase tickets, visit ALVERNO PRESENTS or call 414-382-6044.

La Revue Française, Chamber Music Milwaukee at the Helen Bader Concert Hall, 10/29
UWM faculty and guests explore French music during the second concert of this chamber series. The program includes Honegger’s Intrada for trumpet and piano, Philippe Gaubert’s Three Aquarelles, Milhaud’s La Cheminée du Roi René, Op. 205 and two works by Ravel: his Sonata for Violin and Cello and Le Tombeau de Couperin. For more information, visit the UWM PSOA site or call the box office at 414-229-4308.

Simone Ferro and Friends II, Danceworks at 1661 N. Water St. Studio Theatre, 10/30 to 11/8
Choreographer and UWM Dance Professor Simone Ferro returns with another evening of contemporary dance movements in collaboration with DPC members. It’s a “kinesthetic response to images” from an upcoming MAM photography show called “Street Seen: The Psychological Gesture in American Photography.” Other new works draw inspiration from Ferro’s research on Brazilian popular dance. Guest artists include violinist and UWM Music Professor Bernard Zinck, video artist/light designer Iain Court and  UWM alumna/artist Mary Madsen of New York. For tickets, visit the DANCEWORKS performance sub-page or call 414-277-8480, ext. 6025.

Tosca Opera Insights, Boswell Books on Downer Ave., 10/28
It’s one of those tough decisions you might have to make; just as the 6:30 p.m. encore screening of the MET’s version of Tosca plays at Marcus Theatres across southeastern Wisconsin, there is this free glimpse into the upcoming Florentine production, featuring guest performances by Studio Artists at 7 p.m. For more information, visit the FLORENTINE or BOSWELL BOOKS blogs.

Halloween Haunted Bash, Brumder Mansion Bed and Breakfast, 10/31
You’ll be hearing more about this event in the coming days (we took a sneak-peek at the restoration and new ballroom stage). In the meantime, get your own look as the folks at this venue are having a big, spooky bash on Saturday. There will be magicians, psychics, ghost performers and a concert by Zane Zirkle with violinist Marvin Suson and soprano Meaghan Reider. For advanced tickets, visit the special BRUMDER MANSION webpage or call 414-899-2036.

After School Special, Improv at Alchemist Theater, 11/1

Photo, courtesy Alchemist website

It’s another night of improv sketch comedy at this Bay View haunt, this time with four young actors bent on taking you “for a nostalgic voyage.” They first ask about a common teenage problem and from there the audience can sit back and enjoy the ride. Joel Boyd, Kevin Gerrity, Nevin Langhus and Anna Wolfe star. For more information, visit the ALCHEMIST website or call 414-426-4169.

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American Players Theatre recently announced that the 2009 season went pretty well and plans for the  summer of 2010. Highlights for the professional company that performs on two stages in Spring Green include Shakespeare plays like As You Like It and All’s Well That Ends Well. You’ll also see some heavy-hitters, such as Inge’s Picnic, Maugham’s The Circle, Shaw’s Major Barbara and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot as well as two, intriguing choices both set in South Africa. One is Pamela Gien’s apartheid tale The Syringa Tree. The other is Athol Fugard’s thought piece,  Exits and Entrances.

…also announcing updated seasons are new theater companies Youngblood and Uprooted. Youngblood announced at the Laramie reading that it will have a three-play fall season with Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp, “Ben’s New Play” (in other words, a work in progress) by Benjamin James Wilson and Spirits to Enforce by Mickle Maher.

Uprooted officially displayed plans before its successful benefit last weekend. It starts with a staged reading of A Streetcar Named Desire that is directed by Angela Iannone, then a full production in March 2010 with The Colored Museum and finally a collaborative unnamed project between the Uprooted founders and Alvaro Saar Rios of the Royal Mexican Players.