Weekly Highlights from 3/3-3/9

The national tour of Hairspray stops by the Milwaukee Theatre this week. Photo by Jun Wadja.

_

Radio Golf, Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Stiemke Theater, 3/5-3/28
A dynamic and humorous play about a successful real estate developer and the challenges he faces when he sets his sights on becoming the city’s first black mayor. Supporting his efforts are his wife, an ambitious public relations executive, and his business partner, a Tiger Woods fanatic (who gets involved in a radio station scheme). When he’s about to demolish the decaying home of the legendary Aunt Esther, secrets are revealed that could be his undoing. This is the Tony Award-nominated finale of August Wilson’s  ten-play cycle chronicling African-American life in the 20th century.
Tickets $25.  Showtimes vary, so visit The Rep or call 414-224-9490 for more information.

Route 66, Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Stackner Cabaret, 3/5-4/25
Travel along the famed “Main Street of America” with some of the most popular songs of the road.
Tickets$25-$35.  Showtimes vary, so visit The Rep or call 414-224-9490 for more information.

Jerry O’Boyle and the cast of the national tour of Hairspray. Photo by Phil Martin.

Hairspray, Milwaukee Theatre, 3/5-3/6
It’s 1962, and pleasantly plump Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad has only one desire — to dance on the popular Corny Collins Show. When her dream comes true, Tracy is transformed from social outcast to sudden star, but she must use her newfound power to vanquish the reigning Teen Queen, win the affections of heartthrob Link Larkin and integrate a TV network — all without denting her ‘do! This is a musical adaptation of John Waters’ famed 1988 film.
There is a discounted “1962 is back” price of $19.62 for seats that were previously $48.50 and $38.50.  Showtimes 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday.  Visit the Milwaukee Theatre or call 414-908-6001.

A Bad Year for Tomatoes, Racine Theatre Guild, 3/5-3/21
Fed up with the pressures of her career, a famous actress leases a house in a tiny New England town to relax, plant tomatoes and write her autobiography. To shoo away nosy neighbors, she invents a violent, insane sister locked in an upstairs room. Complications result when the dimwitted local handyman takes a liking to Sister Sadie.
Visit the Racine Theatre Guild for showtimes and ticket information.

Our Town, UW-Milwaukee Theatre, Mainstage Theatre, 3/9-3/14
Thornton Wilder’s hauntingly beautiful journey through life and love in Grover’s Corners describes how we imagine ourselves. This Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is one of the wisest, warmest and most deeply human documents to emerge from American theater.
Tickets $15 general/$9 students, seniors & UWM alumni.  All shows at 7:30 p.m. except Sunday, 2 p.m.  Visit PSOA or call 414-229-4308.

_

John Foshager. Photo courtesy of website.

The John Foshager Jazz Quartet, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 3/4
Featuring John Foshager, piano; Paul Silbergleit, guitar; Jeff Hamann, bass; and Terry Smirl, drums. The quartet presents an intimate evening of swinging, straight ahead jazz standards, along with several John Foshager originals.
Tickets $18 General Admission, $14 Seniors and Students.  Concert begins at 7:30 p.m.  Visit the Conservatory or call 414-276-5760.

Music From Almost Yesterday presents Mari-Liis Pakk & Jason Calloway, UW-Milwaukee Recital Hall, 3/4
Music From Almost Yesterday, directed by Yehuda Yannay, presents two top-notch young string players, Mari-Liis Pakk, violin, and Jason Calloway, cello. Graduates of Juilliard and Temple University, Pakk and Calloway have formed a violin-cello duo dedicated to the performance of 20th- and 21st-century music. Their concert will include the Milwaukee premiere of Yehuda Yannay’s Note Traffic, a major work for the genre, as well as works by Iannis Xenakis, Toshio Hosakawa and George Antheil.
Tickets $10 general/$7 students, seniors & UWM alumni, faculty & staff.  Concert begins at 7:30 p.m.  Visit PSOA or call 414-229-4308.

Leahys Luck. Photo courtesy of website.

Leahy’s Luck and Trinity Irish Dancers, John Michael Kohler Center for the Arts, 3/5
One of Milwaukee’s favorite Irish bands, featuring Stas Venglevski and Randal Harrison, performing traditional and popular Irish music.
Tickets $8-$10.  Showtime 6:30 p.m.  Visit the Kohler Center or call 920-458-6144.
… if you simply can’t get enough Irish music around this time of year, Leahy’s Luck is also playing the Cedarburg Cultural Center on 3/13.  Visit the CCC for more information.

Vadim Repin. Photo courtesy of website.

All Beethoven, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Marcus Center Uihlein Hall, 3/5-3/7
Yehudi Menuhin declared Vadim Repin to be “simply the best, most perfect violinist I have ever heard.” Hear Repin play Beethoven’s towering Violin Concerto with the MSO this weekend. Also, Edo de Waart presents Beethoven in a rare moment of peace in his beloved “Pastoral” Symphony.
Tickets $25-$93.  Concert begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.  Visit the MSO or call 414-291-7605.

Benefit Concert: Pre-College Guitar Program, UW-Milwaukee Recital Hall, 3/5
Elina Chekan and René Izquierdo perform in a benefit concert for the UWM Pre-College Guitar Program.
Tickets $15 general/$9 students, seniors, alumni.  Concert begins at 7:30 p.m.  Visit PSOA or call 414-229-4308 for more information.

Messiah, Choral Arts Society, First Presbyterian Church in Racine, 3/6
This past year, the world celebrated the 250th Anniversary of the death of George Frideric Handel. He originally wrote Messiah to be performed during Lent, not Christmas. The Choral Arts Society and a chamber orchestra of guest musicians perform the work as it was originally intended.
Tickets $5-$15.  Concert begins at 7 p.m.  Visit the Choral Arts Society or call 262-634-3250.

Piano Faculty in Concert, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 3/7
Featuring piano faculty members Matthew Bergey, Andrea DeGreiff-Beisser, Teresa Drews, Stefanie Jacob, Janina Knechtges and Fumi Nishikori. This showcase of the Conservatory piano faculty features solos and duets,  plus an eight-hand, two-piano finale.
Tickets $3-$5.  Concert begins at 3 p.m.  Visit the Wisconsin Conservatory or call 414-276-5760.

_

Trey McIntyre Project, Milwaukee Ballet, Marcus Center Uihlein Hall, 3/9
As part of a two-week residency with Milwaukee Ballet and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the versatile Trey McIntyre Project returns for a one-night-only performance featuring the Milwaukee premiere of Ma Maison with dancers from the Milwaukee Ballet Academy and the Nancy Einhorn Milwaukee Ballet II program. Commissioned in 2008 by the New Orleans Ballet Association, Ma Maison is set to jazz music by the renowned New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The evening will also include Wild Sweet Love and an additional piece.
Tickets $40-$48.  Showtime 7:30 p.m.  Visit the Milwaukee Ballet or call 414-273-7206.

_

Master Class: Mary Dibbern, pianist & vocal coach, UW-Milwaukee Department of Music, UWM Recital Hall, 3/4
Guest clinician Mary Dibbern, an internationally known pianist and vocal coach, offers a master class for voice students as part of her residency in the Peck School, March 4-6.
Master class is free and open to the public.  4-6 p.m.  For more information, visit PSOA or call 414-229-4308.

Classic Hollywood: A red carpet event to benefit Movie Time, Charles Allis Art Museum, 3/7
Join the Charles Allis Museum on Oscar Night for a red carpet event to benefit Movie Time, the museum’s classic film series. Guests are invited to arrive in black-tie attire or dressed as a favorite star of the silver screen and watch the 2010 Academy Awards show on the big screen. Milwaukee’s own film historian Dale Kuntz will be on hand with plenty of obscure trivia, vintage movie posters and more. Oscar prediction contest, hors d’oeuvres, swag bags, complimentary valet parking and a cash bar.
Tickets: $20/person (museum members), $25/person (non-members).  Event begins at 6 p.m.  Visit the Charles Allis Art Museum or call 414-278-8295.

_

Winners of Snowdance Comedy Festival Announced:
Over Our Head Players just finished their sold-out five-week run of the Snowdance Comedy Festival. The $300 first place Best in Snow award went to Tim Bohn of Jonesboro, AR, for The Covenant, which featured a father, his son, and the veteran smelt fisherman they encounter. Second place was awarded to Rick Park of Boston, MA, for Please Report Any Suspicious Activity, about two dolphins in a spat after a visit to the aquarium. Third place went to Roy Sorrels of Santa Fe, NM, for 10 x 10 — two actors race the clock with 10 scenes in 10 minutes.  Read Erik Koconis’ review here.

Notice from the Racine Theatre Guild:—
The Racine Theatre Guild is offering an escorted New York City theater trip Sept. 16-19. Packages include roundtrip air transportation and transfers from Milwaukee to LaGuardia, three nights at the Sheraton Towers Hotel, tickets to three Broadway shows, theater/walking tours, nightly hospitality suite and some meals. Tour packages from $1,590. Registration requested by March 26. For full information, contact the Racine Theatre Guild at 262-633-4218, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine.

_

For more arts/culture coverage or event leads, check out the TCD Calendar.