Music on the high seas, assorted gems
Theater
The 1940s — so over? Not until the curtain comes down in Elm Grove tonight (Tuesday, Nov. 2).
The Sunset Theater has brought back the days of the big bands and the nation of citizen soldiers in Time Capsule: The Forties. Chris Krasovich, Bryce Lord, Bonnie Scholz, and Matt Zembrowski will cover everyone from Kate Smith to the Andrews Sisters to Nat Cole to the era’s you heartthrob, Sinatra. Two shows today (Tuesday, Nov. 2), at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Then it’s back to the boring old 21st century. Tickets are $17. Details, links and map here.
For the Kids: The Sunset opens Switch Witch Thursday. A good witch encounters a bad witch, and they settle their differences in a fight to the death with broken whiskey bottles. Well, OK, that’s a lie. Actually, this happens: “A good witch who overcomes loneliness and being different by befriending a bad witch. She uses her imagination and determination to always be helpful, kind and good to change the bad witch’s ways.” 10:30 a.m. Thursday Friday and Saturday, also 2 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 4-6) at the Sunset in Elm Grove. Craft projects 30 minutes prior. Tickets $7 for grown-ups, $5 for 3 and up, under 3 free. Call 262-782-4430. Maps and links here.
Enjoy Latin jazz from Bahía, a Bohemia — a piano bar sing-along — hors d’oeuvres and a raffle, all for the good cause of the Excelencia en la Música Scholarship Fund at the UWM Peck School of the Arts. Noche de Música is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5, at the UWM Zelazo Center. Tickets are $15, $10 for UWM students and alums. Call the PSOA box office, 414-229-4308.
Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Photo courtesy of the cathedrals website.
If you need to get out of that Downtown office for more nourishment that a sandwich offers, drop into the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday. Solon Pierce will give a free 30-minute recital. It’s free, but would it kill you to drop a $3 suggested donation in the box? No! It will make you feel better about everything. The cathedral’s music director, Michael Batcho, curates the Wednesday concert series. Coming up: Nov. 10, flutist Carol Meves and pianist Jayne Latva; Nov. 17, Latva with clarinetist Darlene Carl-Beck; Nov. 24, soprano Angela Jarosz.
Also at the cathedral: 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, pianist Daniel Beliavsky, in recital. $10, $5 for students and seniors. More info here.
When Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe, 1577-80, his crew included a viol quartet. The English were mad for viols, fretted bowed instruments tuned in fourths. They had trumpets, too, and a crew ready to sing hymns and sea songs on Drake’s cue. The music came in handy, charming natives from California to Java.
Sir Francis Drakes The Golden Hind. Illustration from “Famous Men and Modern Times,” pub. 1908
Early Music Now will present Fretwork, an English consort of viols and voices, in The World Encompassed, an evening of music from Drake’s day. Concert time is 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 6) at the UWM Zelazo Center, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. Click here to listen to Fretwork. Tickets are $25 and $40, $10 and $20 for students; call EMN, 414-225-3113. Tickets will also be on sale at the UWM PSOA box office, 414-229-4308.
Visual Art
More free stuff on Wednesdays: The UWM Department of Art and Design brings hot artists from all disciplines to Milwaukee to speak on the Artists Now Series. They’re free, in the Arts Center Lecture Hall, just off the little quad between the Recital Hall, the Main Stage Theater and Mitchell Hall. 7 p.m. Up this week: Noam Toran, whose “objects and films that reflect upon the intersection between cinema, design, mass culture, technology and psychology.”
Ongoing
The Rep: Laurel and Hardy and My Name Is Asher Lev, both through Nov. 14.
First Stage: Peter Pan and Wendy, through Nov. 14.
Youngblood Theatre: Freakshow, through Nov. 20.
Soulstice Theatre: The Foreigner, through Nov. 13.
Last Chance
Sunset Playhouse: You Can’t Get There from Here, through Nov. 7.
In Tandem: The Art of Murder, through Nov. 7.
